OLIVE FAMILY 



RED ASH 



prdxinus pennsylvdnica. Frdxinus pubescens. 



A comparatively small tree, averaging forty feet high with stout 

 upright branches and irregular head. Ranges from New Brunswick 

 to Florida, westward to Dakota, Nebraska and Kansas. 



Bark. — Brown or ashy gray with numerous longitudinal shallow 

 furrows, surface scaly. Branchlets slender, terete, at first velvety- 

 downy, finally they become ashy gray or light brown, frequently 

 covered with bloom. Inner face of outer bark of the branches red 

 or cinnamon color. 



Wood. — Light brown with lighter sapwood. Heavy, hard, strong 

 and coarse-grained. Sp. gr,, 0.71 17; weight of cu. ft., 44.35 lbs. 



Winter Buds. — Leaf-buds small, acute, downy, dark rusty brown. 

 Outer scales fall when spring growth begins. The inner scales en- 

 large, become green and often leaf-like. 



Leaves. — Opposite, pinnately compound, ten to twelve 

 inches long. Leaflets seven to nine, petiolate, three to 

 five inches long, one to one and a half wide, oblong- 

 lanceolate to ovate, unequally wedge-shaped at base, 

 serrate, sometimes entire, acuminate or acute. They 

 come out of the bud conduplicate, coated beneath with 

 thick white tomentum, shining and hairy above; when 

 full grown are firm, yellow green above, pale and vel- 

 vety-downy beneath. Feather-veined, midrib and pri- 

 mary veins conspicuous. In autumn they turn rusty 

 brown fading into yellow. Petioles swollen at base, 

 grooved, hairy. Petiolules thick, grooved, downy, about 

 one-fourth of an inch long. 



B'lomers. — May, with the leaves. Dioecious, borne in 

 compact, downy, bracteate panicles, which appear from 

 the axils of last year's leaves. 



Calyx. — In staminate flowers cup-shaped, obscurely 

 toothed. In pistillate flowers cup-shaped, deeply di- 

 vided. 



Corolla. — Wanting. 



Stamens. — Two, sometimes three ; anthers linear- 

 oblong, pale greenish purple ; filaments short. 



Pistil. — Ovary superior, two-celled, contracted into a 



lengthened style, divided at ape.x into two green stig- 



matic lobes. Ovules two in each cell. 



Fruit. — Samaras, borne in open panicles which remain on the 



branches throughout winter. One to two inches long ; body slender, 



terete, half surrounded by a thin wing, rounded or acute at the apex. 



212 



A Staminate 

 and a Pis- 

 tillate Flow- 

 er of Red 

 Asli, Frax- 

 tnus pcnn- 

 sylvanica ; 

 enlarged. 



