ILLINOIS TREES: SELECTION, PLANTING, AND CARE 



81 



Fig. 76. — European 

 mountain ash produces 

 attractive white flowers 

 in the spring and showy 

 orange to red fruit in 

 autumn. Each com- 

 pound leaf (inset) is 

 composed of 9-15 leaf- 

 lets. 



The yellowish-green, alternate, compound leaves of Ameri- 

 can mountain ash are 6-10 inches long and consist of 13-17 

 sharply pointed, finely toothed, oblong to lance-shaped leaflets. 

 The dense flat-topped clusters of small white flowers, 3-5 inches 

 wide, appear before the leaves are fully grown. The round, 

 bright, orange-red, fleshy fruit is about V4. inch in diameter and 

 it contains a Va-ii^ch-long, brown seed. The gray bark is thin 

 and smooth. 



The leaves, flowers, and fruit of European mountain ash are 

 similar to those of American mountain ash. However, the com- 

 pounds leaves (Fig. 76 inset) consist of only 9-15 oblong leaflets 

 and the flowers and bright orange fruits are more showy. Both 

 trees thrive in most soils, but American mountain ash grows best 

 in loamy, acid soil and in cool locations. European mountain ash 

 is planted more extensively than American mountain ash because 

 it is more shapely and produces more brilliantly colored fruit, 

 but it appears to be more susceptible to the bacterial disease 

 called fire blight. 



