798 



The Ashes 



petals. The samaras are oblong to linear-oblong, or sometimes broader above 

 than below the middle, 2.5 to 5 cm. long, strongly striated longitudinally, the 

 usually notched wing extending all around the seed-bearing part and about twice 

 its length. 



Except in swampy ground the Black ash grows slowly. Its wood is coarse- 

 grained and tough but not strong, dark brown in color, with a specific gravity of 

 0.63. It is much used for fences, being durable in the soD, and in basket-making, 

 cabinet-work and interior carpentry. 



3. OREGON ASH — Fraxinns oregona Nuttall 



The Oregon ash inhabits the region from southern British Columbia to southern 

 California, preferring rich soil in valleys, and sometimes becomes 25 meters high, 

 with a trunk 1.3 meters in diameter. 



The bark is gray-brown and fissured, 2 to 4 cm. thick. The young twigs and 



leaves are usually densely velvety, but often 

 lose this character as they grow older, or 

 are sometimes nearly smooth from the 

 first. The leaves have 5, 7 or rarely 9 

 leaflets, which are ovate to elliptic, sessile 

 or rarely short-stalked, 2.5 to 7.5 cm. long, 

 blunt or sharp-pointed, and are usually 

 without teeth, though the margins are 

 sometimes a little scalloped. The flower 

 clusters are bome at the leaf scars of the 

 preceding year, and the staminate and 

 pistillate flowers are usually, if not always, 

 on different trees; the staminate flower 

 has a very small 4-toothed calyx and 2 sta- 

 mens with anthers rather shorter than those 

 of the eastern Ashes; the pistillate calyx is 

 larger 'and its 4 teeth are incised. The samara is 5 cm. long or less, spatulate to 

 nearly linear, the blunt wing decurrent on the somewhat flattened seed-bearing 

 part to or below the middle. 



It is a tree of rapid growth and is much used for street and park planting on 

 the Pacific coast; it is hardy in the eastern and middle States. The wood has a 

 specific gravity of 0.57, is brown and rather brittle, and is employed in the manu- 

 facture of wagons, barrels and in interior carpentry. 



Fig. 724. — Oregon Ash. 



