THE ASH. 



FraxUnus excel sior L. 



Called by Gilpin "the Venus of the woods," and 

 said by Spenser to be " for nothing ill," the Ash is 

 certainly one of the more important of our forest trees. 

 It is truly native in Great Britain and throughout the 

 greater part of Europe, whilst in North America it is 

 represented by a closely allied species. Together with 

 the Privets, Olives, Lilacs, and a few other genera, the 

 Ashes form the small Order Olea'ceoe, a group of trees 

 and shrubs with their leaves in opposite pairs, and 

 with the parts of the flower in whorls of four or two, 

 and generally united. The genus Fraxinus, to which 

 the Ash belongs, consists of trees v/ith deciduous 

 foliage, with some at least of their flowers "imperfect," 

 i.e. wanting either stamens or carpels, and with a 

 winged fruit, or "samara." The etymology of the 

 name Fraxinus is very uncertain. 



Our common species, F. excelsior, was no doubt 

 so called by Linnaeus from its loftiness as com- 

 pared with other members of the Order. Its distinc- 

 tive characters are the absence of both calyx and 

 corolla, and the "oblong-lanceolate" form and "serrate" 

 margin of the leaflets, of which there are generally 

 from nine to fifteen in each of the compound leaves. 



There are frequent allusions to the Ash throughout 

 European literature, since its tough sapHngs were 

 naturally chosen by both Greeks and Romans for 



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