FOREST TREES. 149 



from lanceolate to oval, entire, or slightly serrate. Fruit small 

 and crowded, somewhat club-shaped. A small tree, but rather 

 stocky ; twenty to thirty feet high, with stems a foot or more 

 in diameter. Southwest Texas, Arizona, and Mexico. A rigid 

 form of this (var. coriacea), with thick leathery leaves, fre- 

 quents the arid districts of Arizona. 



F. platycarpa, Michx. Water Ash. Leaflets five to seven, 

 ovate-oblong, pointed, and sharply serrate or entire. Fruit ellip- 

 tical, broad above, two inches long, contracted below, sometimes 

 three-winged. Young branches round, smooth or pubescent. A 

 small tree, thirty or forty feet high, from Southern Virginia in 

 swamps to Florida, and westward to Louisiana. Said to be also 

 found in Cuba. 



F. pnbeseens, Lam. Red Ash. Leaflets seven to nine, oblong- 

 ovate, gradually pointed, green above, and pale velvety 

 beneath. The young branches and leaves are quite velvety at 

 first, hence the specific name. Inside of the bark reddish or 

 cinnamon-color. A small, but rather slender tree, in swamps, 

 and along streams. Canada to Florida, and westward to 

 Dakota, but far more common in the Eastern than in the West- 

 ern States. 



F. sambncifolia. Black Ash. Leaflets seven to eleven, green 

 on both sides, oblong-lanceolate, form a roundish base, grad- 

 ually tapering to a point, finely and sharply serrate. Flowers 

 entirely naked. The crushed leaves exhale the odor of the com- 

 mon Elder (Sambucus). Fruit flat, and winged all around. 

 Tree of moderate size, but quite tall, stems slender, a foot in 

 diameter in trees sixty to seventy feet high, in rich swamps, 

 and along streams. Wood coarse-grained, but exceedingly 

 tough, readily separated into thin layers, hence its extensive 

 use by the early settlers in our Northern States for seating 

 chairs, making baskets, and various other household uses. A 

 valuable tree for planting in moist and wet soils. Canada to 

 Virginia, and westward to Arkansas. 



F. viriilis, Michx. Green Ash. Leaflets five to nine, bright 

 green on both sides, sometimes a little whitish on the under 

 side ; oblong-ovate, more or less toothed. Fruit flattish, two- 

 edged at base, widening into a long, lance linear whig. A 

 variable species, closely allied to the Eed Ash, but a smaller 

 tree, most common in low grounds. West and South, but found 

 from Canada to Florida, and westward to Dakota and Arizona. 



