WAFER ASH 



downy beneath. Autumnal tints are scarlet touched with yel- 

 low. Two stout prickles are on the stem just below the clusters 

 of leaves and flowers. 



Flowers. April, May, before or with the leaves. Dioecious, 

 small, greenish white, borne in short umbels in the axils of the 

 leaves. Sepals four to five or obsolete ; petals five j stamens 

 four to five; pistils two to five, with slender styles slightly 

 united. Capsules ellipsoid, thick and fleshy, on short stalks, 

 two-valved, one to two-seeded ; seeds black, smooth, shining. 



The common name of Prickly Ash explains itself; 

 the stem of the shrub is prickly and its leaves resem- 

 ble those of the ashes. There the likeness ceases. 

 The small greenish flowers are inconspicuous and 

 appear early. All parts of the shrub are pungent 

 and aromatic ; when the leaves are crushed they yield 

 a strong lemon-like odor. 



WAFER ASH. HOP-TREE 



P tele a trifoliata. 



Ptelea, the Greek name of the elm-tree, transferred to this 

 genus because of the similarity of the fruits. Wafer refers 

 to the size and shape of the fruit. Hop re- 

 calls the fact that the leaves have been sub- 

 stituted for hops in the making of beer. 



The Wafer Ash, though small, is 

 arborescent in habit and properly de- 

 scribed as a tree ; but it consorts with 

 the shrubs and is grouped with them samaras of the Wafer 

 for landscape effects. The green flow- 

 ers, though abundant, are inconspicuous and the plant 

 does not become noticeable before midsummer ; then 

 the winged seed vessels mature and form great green- 



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