262 
the leaves in April or May, perfect, that is there are stamens and 
pistils in the same flower, petals wanting, calyx in mature fruit 
obsolete or a mere ring; fruit maturing late in summer; linear-ob- 
long, 2-4 em. (1-2 inches) long, about 1 em. (14 inch) wide, flat, 
winged all around, blunt and notched at the apex, as viewed from 
apex twisted to the right 20-40 degrees. 
Distribution. Southern Ontario and Minnesota south to Tenn- 
essee, Alabama and Arkansas. In the northern part of Indiana it 
is rare to infrequent, becoming more frequent southward until the 
hills of southern Indiana are reached where it is more uniform in 
its distribution. In several localities in the southern part of the 
State it is known as “white” ash on account of the light color of 
the bark to distinguish it from the other species of the neighbor- 
hood, all of which have a darker colored bark. In these localities 
Fraxinus nigra is not found. Where the sugar maple and beech 
are the prevailing species it is commonly quite frequent. Through- 
out its distribution it is found in dry well drained soil and its con- 
stant associate is the sugar maple. Usually a medium sized tree 
in both diameter and height, occasionally a tree of large diameter. 
Frequently the bark of the mature trees of the hard mapie and blue 
ash very much resemble each other in color and exfoliation. 
The published records of the distribution are as follows: Cas8 
(Benedict and Elrod); Clark (Baird and Taylor); Dearborn (Col- 
lins); Delaware (Phinney); Delaware, Jay, Randolph and Wayne 
(Phinney); Fountain (Brown); Franklin (Haymond) and (Meyncke); 
Gibson (Schneck); Hamilton (Wilson); Jay (M’Caslin); Jefferson 
(Coulter); Knox (Ridgway); Marion (Wilson); Miami (Gorby); 
vicinity of New Albany (Clapp) ; Noble (Van Gorder) ; Parke (Hobbs) ; 
Posey (Schneck); Steuben (Bradner); Vigo (Blatchley); Wabash 
(Benedict and Elrod); Wayne (Petry and Markle). 
Additional records are: Putnam (Grimes); Tippecanoe (Coulter) ; 
Dearborn, Delaware, Harrison, Jefferson, Montgomery and Wells 
(Deam). 
Economic uses. Wood heavy, hard, close-grained and rather 
brittle. Commercially it is usually graded as white ash. It was a 
favorite wood with the pioneers for making the puncheons of their 
log cabins. 
6. Fraxinus nigra Marshall. WatTer AsH. Swamp AsH. Buack 
AsH. Hoop Asu. Plate 126. Bark light gray, fissures short and 
shallow, separating in short thin scales; small branches light gray, 
rather tough; the season’s shoots at first olive green, becoming 
smooth and gray; leaf-scars shield shape, ridges connecting them 
