OLEACEtE— OLIVE FAMILY 



WHITE ASH 



Frixinus amerkhna. 



A graceful tree, sometimes one hundred feet in height but usually 

 seventy or eighty, with straight trunk three feet or more in diameter 

 at the base. When growing alone it produces a round-topped or a 

 pyramidal head of great beauty. It is distributed from Nova Scotia 

 and Minnesota to Florida and Texas, but attains its greatest size on 

 the bottom lands of the lower Ohio valley. Grows rapidly, prefers 

 rich moist soil and is recommended for city planting in the eastern 

 states. 



Bark. — Gray, deeply furrowed into narrow flattened ridges, sur- 

 face scaly. Branchlets stout, terete, at first slightly hairy, dark 

 green, later become pale orange or ashy gray. 



Wood. — Brown, sapwood paler brown ; heavy, tough, elastic, close- 

 grained. Used in manufacture of furniture, carriages, agricultural 

 implements, oars. Sp. gr. , 0.6543 ; weight of cu. ft., 40.77 lbs. 



Winter Buds. — Brown, nearly black, ovate, obtuse at apex. Ter- 

 minal buds large, lateral buds smaller. Outer scales fall when spring 

 growth begins, inner scales enlarge and become green. 



Leaves. — Opposite, pinnately compound, eight to twelve inches 

 long. Leaflets five to nine ; three to five inches long, one to two 

 broad, petiolate, ovate or oblong-lanceolate, unequally wedge-shaped 

 or rounded at base, entire, or obscurely serrate, acuminate or acute. 

 They come out of the bud conduplicate, thin, smooth or slightly 

 hairy; when full grown are smooth, dark green, often shining above, 

 pale, sometimes silvery beneath, often hairy along the veins. Feather- 

 veined, midrib compressed above, primary veins conspicuous. In 

 autumn they turn brownish purple fading into yellow. Petioles 

 stout, smooth, grooved, swollen at the base. Petiolules about one- 

 fourth of an inch long. 



2o6 



