246 FAMILIAR TREES AND THEIR LEAVES. 



The bark of the trunk is light gray, and it cracks in 

 thin scales. 



The leaves (eight to twelve inches long) are com- 

 posed of from five to nine (usually seven) yellow- 

 green leaflets, which are slightly paler below, and 

 tipped along the rib with downy hairs; the edges 

 are sharply toothed, and the leaflet stem is barely an 

 eighth of an inch long. In autumn the foliage turns 

 a pale, dull yellow. The seeds are rather blunt and 

 somewhat notched at the end of the wing. 



The blue ash is not a very common tree, and it is 

 found mostly in moist woods or on rich limestone 

 hills in the West, from southern Michigan to central 

 Minnesota ; southward it extends to northern Alabama 

 and northeastern Arkansas. The wood is hard and 

 close-grained. In color it is brownish yellow, and it 

 is used extensively for the interior finish of houses. 

 A blue dye is extracted from the inner bark by 

 steeping it in water, and to this fact it undoubtedly. 

 owes its name. 



"Water Ash. The water ash is a tree from 25 to 

 Fraxinus piatycarpa. 40 feet high, which inhabits the 



Fraxinus Caroliniana. n , ■ .-,-,. 



almost maccessible nver swamps of 

 the South, where it is found in the shade of the 

 bald cypress. Its leaves (seven to twelve inches 

 long) have from five to seven ovate leaflets, which are 

 deep green above and pale green below, with per- 



