Fraxinus 897 



FRAXINUS SPAETHIANA 



Fraxinus Spaethiana, Lingelsheim, in Engler, Bot.Jahrb. xl. 215 (1907). 



Fraxinus Sieboldiana, Dippel, Laubholzkunde, i. 63, t. 27 (1889); Koehne, Deutsche Dendrohgie, 

 (1893) (not Blume). 



A small tree. Branchlets glabrous, grey. Leaflets seven to nine, coriaceous, 

 4 to 6 inches long, i^ to if inch wide, sessile or subsessile (terminal leaflet sessile 

 or with a stalk up to \ inch long) ; lanceolate-oblong ; unequal and tapering at the 

 base ; abruptly contracted at the apex into a long, often curved acumen ; margin 

 non-ciliate, irregularly and often crenately serrate ; lateral nerves fifteen to twenty 

 pairs ; glabrous except for slight pubescence along the midrib on the lower surface 

 at the base. Rachis of the leaf, glabrous, with a continuous open groove on its 

 upper side, dilated at its base into a swollen, dark-brown, shining sheath, which 

 partly embraces the branchlet and conceals the glabrous dark-brown buds. Flowers, 

 section Ornus. Fruit in large terminal glabrous leafless panicles, Samarae linear- 

 spatulate, i|- inch long, \ inch wide in the broadest part, rounded and entire at the 

 apex ; calyx with five short teeth. 



This species, which has been a considerable time in cultivation, under the 

 garden name of F- serratifolia, is readily distinguishable from all the other species ^ 

 of ash which have been introduced, by the swollen base of the petiole, which 

 somewhat resembles that of the plane tree. It is a native of Japan, where it appears 

 to have been confused with F. Sieboldiana, which we consider to be a form of 

 F. longicuspis. Specimens lately received at Kew, through the Hon. Vicary Gibbs, 

 from Dr. Fukuba, Director of the Imperial Gardens at Tokyo, enable us to describe 

 the fruit, which has hitherto been unknown. 



It is a handsome and striking species, represented at Kew by a tree about 

 15 feet high, and at Aldenham by small plants. (A. H.) 



FRAXINUS LONGICUSPIS 



Fraxinus longicuspis, Siebold et Zuccarini, in Abhand. Baier. Acad. Wissen. iv. 3, p. 169 (1846); 

 Franchet et Savatier, Enum. PI. Jap. i. 310 (1875); Shirasawa, Icon. Ess. Forest. Japon, text 

 126, t. 81 (i90o)j Lingelsheim, in Engler, Bot.Jahrb. xl. 214 (1907). 



Fraxinus Sieboldiana, Blume, in Mus. Lugd. Bat. i. 311 (1850). 



A tree, attaining, according to Shirasawa, 50 feet in height and 7 feet in girth. 

 Young branchlets grey, glabrous. Leaflets five, occasionally seven ; terminal largest, 

 stalked ; lateral, upper pair sessile, lower pair stalked ; oblong, oblong-lanceolate, or 



> F. platypoda, Oliver, a species, discovered by me in Central China, has a similar swollen base to the petiole ; but it 

 has never been introduced. 



IV 2B 



