316 OUR WOODLAND TREES. 
oblong, blunt at their bases, but drawn out to’ 
rather acute points at their apices. The arrange- 
ment of leaflets makes the leaf what is called pin- 
nate or feather-like—that is to say, the leaf is cleft 
to the mid-stem, like the parts of a feather are 
cleft to its quill. It might, however, be contended 
that each leaflet-—which is generally distinctly 
stalked to its mid-stem—is a leaf itself, instead of 
being merely a part of a leaf. The venation of 
the leaflets —as we shall here regard them—is very 
distinct, consisting of a prominent mid-vein 
running through their centres, with veinlets run- 
ning diagonally, and in very regular parallel lines 
to the leaf margins. The colour of the leaves of 
the Ash is a light green; and as they are the 
latest in appearing in the spring, so they are 
amongst the earliest to disappear in the autumn— 
turning as they wither to a dull brown, and some- 
times when autumnal winds are high, disappearing 
almost suddenly—or within a very short time— 
from the Tree. Hence the Ash rarely has the 
autumnal beauty of most of our woodland Trees, 
though occasionally its leaves are coloured with rich 
tints of yellow. The time of the fall of the leaf varies 
