536 NEW ENGLAND TREES IN WINTER. 



WHITE ASH 



Fraxinus americana L. 



HABIT In the forests a large tree with straight, tall trunk, free 

 from branches to near the narrow crown, 50-75 ft. in height with trunk 

 diameter of 2-3 ft., reaching over 100 ft. in height in the Ohio basin; in 

 the open a broader tree with ovate, round-topped or pyramidal to oblong 

 outline, the trunk at times continuous into the crown but generally 

 dividing comparatively low down into a number of slightly spreading 

 limbs with slender spreading branches, the lower more or less drooping 

 and recurved. The coarse twigs are formed at a broad angle approach- 

 ing a right angle with the branch and this cross-shaped branching 

 seen against the sky is an easy means of identification. 



BARK Grayish-brown, characteristically furrowed with narrow, flat- 

 topped, firm, irregular, longitudinal ridges which are transversely 

 broken, more or less confluent and enclosing diamond-shaped hollows; 

 old trunks becoming smoother by scaling off of the ridges. 



TWIGS Stout, smooth and shining, grayish or greenish-brown often 

 with a slight bloom, very brittle, flattened at nodes at right angles to 

 leaf-scars. LENTICELS large, pale, scattered dots. 



LEAP-SCARS Opposite, large, conspicuous, raised, crescent-shaped to 

 nearly semi-circular but always notched at the top. STIPULE-SCARS 

 absent. BUNDLE-SCARS numerous, minute, in a curved line, often 

 indistinct, sometimes more or less confluent. 



BUDS Stout, semi-spherical to broadly ovate, scurfy, and more or 

 less slightly downy, rusty to dark brown to sometimes almost black; 

 on rapidly growing shoots, superposed buds often present; terminal 

 bud larger than the laterals, about 5 mm. or less long, blunt, generally 

 decidedly broader than long. A pair of lateral buds generally present at 

 end of twig nearly on level with terminal bud, their leaf-scars causing 

 terminal swelling of twig. BUD-SCALES generally broadly ovate, oppo- 

 site in pairs, 2-3 pairs visible, those of terminal bud with sharp, abrupt, 

 sometimes deciduous points. 



FRUIT Winged, 2-5 cm. long, the seed-bearing portion round in 

 section, marginless below with much longer wing dilating from near 

 the tip, hanging on the tree in clusters into the winter. The Ash 

 is dioecious and consequently only the female trees ever bear fruit. 

 Since further these do not bear every season, the fruit does not form 

 a very usable winter character for any of the Ashes. The staminate 

 flowers on the male trees are frequently infected by mites and persist 

 through the winter in blackish distorted clusters. 



COMPARISONS The White Ash is hardly to be confused with the 

 few other genera of trees that have opposite leaf-scars. It is dis- 

 tinguished from the other Ashes figured here in that its leaf-scar is 

 generally narrow and deeply concave, further from the Black Ash by its 

 rough ridged bark and generally rusty and blunter bud-scales and from 

 the Red Ash by its smooth, generally shiny twigs. 



DISTRIBUTION Rich or moist woods, fields and pastures near 

 streams. Newfoundland and Nova Scotia to Ontario; south to Florida; 

 west to Minnesota, Nebraska, Kansas and Texas. 



IN NEW ENGLAND Maine very common, often forming large 

 forest areas; in the other New England states, widely distributed, but 

 seldom occurring in large masses. 



IN CONNECTICUT Frequent. 



WOOD Heavy, hard, strong, close-grained, tough and brown with 

 thick lighter colored sapwood; used in large quantity in the manu- 

 facture of agricultural implements for the handles of tools, in carriage 

 building, for oars and furniture, and in the interior finish of buildings; 

 the most valuable of the American species as a timber tree. 



