560 NEW ENGLAND TREES IN WINTER. 



BLACK ASH 



Hoop, Swamp, Basket or Brown Ash. 



Fraxinus nigra Marsh. 



F. sambucifolia Lam. 



HABIT A tall tree 60-80 ft. in height with trunk diameter of 1-2 ft., 

 larger further south; in swamps in company with other trees with tall 

 slender trunk of nearly uniform diameter to point of branching sup- 

 porting a narrow head; in the open, where it is seldom found, said to 

 have a habit similar to that of the White Ash. 



BARK Ash-gray, slightly tinged with buff, without deep ridges, 

 forming thin scales smoothish on the outside and edges, easily rubbed 

 off and exposing a surface rather soft to the touch suggesting some- 

 what the feel of asbestos or talcum powder; trunk frequently with 

 knobby excrescences. 



TWIGS Very stout, similar to those of White Ash but lighter gray 

 and not shiny. 



LEAF-SCARS Opposite, large, conspicuous, circular to semi-circular; 

 the upper margin not concave, often extending upward as a thin flap 

 partially hiding the bud; otherwise resembling the White Ash. 



BUDS Resembling those of White Ash but generally decidedly black 

 though occasionally rusty, terminal bud ovate, pointed, as long as or 

 longer than broad, more or less flattened at right angles to outer pair of 

 scales, last pair of lateral buds generally at some distance from the 

 end giving terminal bud a stalked appearance. BUD-SCALES of 

 terminal bud broadly keeled and narrower than in White Ash, generally 

 only 1-2 pairs visible. 



FRTJIT With broad wing, distinctly notched at apex, surrounding 

 the flattened seed-bearing portion. 



COMPARISONS The Black Ash is easily distinguished from the 

 White by its soft, scaly bark, the even or raised upper margin of its 

 leaf-scars, its narrower and generally black buds, and the stalked ap- 

 pearance of its terminal bud. When growing in the swamps beside the 

 White Ash its twigs can be seen to be much stouter and fewer than 

 those of the latter species. 



DISTRIBUTION Wet woods, river bottoms, and swamps. Anticostl 

 through Ontario; south to Delaware and Virginia; west to Arkansas and 

 Missouri. 



IN NEW ENGLAND Maine common; New Hampshire south of the 

 White Mountains; Vermont common; Massachusetts more common in 

 central and western sections; Rhode Island infrequent. 



IN CONNECTICUT Occasional. 



WOOD Heavy, rather soft, not strong, tough, coarse-grained, durable, 

 easily separable into thin layers, dark brown with thin light brown 

 often nearly white sapwood; largely used for the interior finish of 

 houses and cabinet-making, and for fences, barrel hoops and in the 

 manufacture of baskets. 



