TREES GROWING NEAR WATER. 



97 



appears on the branches is also a ruddy, rich shade. The 

 former one of tliese peculiarities is a feature shared by the 

 white asii which commercially is a more valuable tree. In the 

 autumn the leaves of the red ash turn yellow, or brown and 

 yellow, before falling. When the question of an ash's identity 

 is to be settled, it should be remembered that the trees are 

 both staminate and pistillate ; and it is only on the latter ones 

 that fruit will be found. The staminate trees also must be ac- 

 corded their true place and not condemned as useless ones 

 which no longer bear fruit. 



GREEN ASH. (^Plate XLIII.) 

 Frdxinus lanceolata. 



FAMILY SHAPE HEIGHT RANGE TIME OF BLOOM 



Oit7'e. Rouud-loppcd; branches^ 20-6^/ect. Xeiv Eiiglaiui, south- Apiii, May. 

 spread i Hi;, ward and wcsiiiHird. 



Bark: greyish brown; furrowed. Brii/ic/i/c'/s : ash coloured and marked 

 with pale, cell-like places. I.eaz'cs : comp<nincl ; o])posite; odd-pinnate, with 

 from five to nine ovate or lanceolate, taper-jiointed leaflets which grow on 

 smooth petiolules hardly a (piarter of an inch long; sharply serrate and 

 becoming entire towards the base. IJright green on both sides and i;labrous, 

 although occasionally downy in the angles of the ribs. Flcnvcrs : dioecious. 

 Samaras : small; similar to those of the white ash ; the wings more spatulate 

 in outline. 



Between the red ash and the green ash there is great similar- 

 ity. Their flowers are identical, and the variableness of the 

 greon ash is added to make it somewhat dihicult to tell them 

 apart, excepting in extreme forms. The green ash, however, is 

 very nearly glabrous throughout, and it is the smaller of the 

 two trees. Its leaves also are shorter, narrower and more 

 sharply serrate. But it is the intense, lustrous, bright green 

 of the foliage by which it is most commonly known. Whether 

 the rain falls or the sun shines upon the leaves they are ever 

 brilliantly, beautifully green. Of all the ashes it is the one 

 most planted for ornament, and it has a rare faculty for adapting 

 itself to new surroundings. It requires an abundance of sun- 

 light. 



