70 FAMILIAR TREES 



trees are, however, exclusively male or exclusively 

 female. 



Like most of those trees which, from their flower- 

 ing before the bursting of their leaf-buds, are termed 

 " precocious," the Ash is probably often cross-fertilised 

 by the wind. Its flowers appear in April and May. 

 It is in June and July, however, that " the Venus of 

 the woods " appears draped in her full beauty of 

 gracefulness. Then the pinnate leaves, each consisting 

 of from four to seven pairs of gracefully- tapered leaf- 

 lets, arranged at some little distance apart along the 

 mid-rib and at the end of a short leaf-stalk, give a 

 light feathery grace to the whole tree. It may be 

 merely rounded in outline or drawn up to some 

 height, and the green of the foliage is somewhat dull 

 and monotonous when viewed closely ; but it is the 

 transparency of the tree, and the play of light through 

 its entire leafage, that give its chief charm to the Ash. 

 Much of this airy lightness is lost ia the weepiag 

 variety, as the foliage then hangs downwards like the 

 dank green locks of some river naiad; but like all 

 pendulous trees, this form looks well by the water. 



The leaves, with their lance-shaped outlines and 

 toothed margins, are no less remarkable for their 

 early fall in autumn than for their late arrival in 

 spring. They often turn to a clear lemon-yellow 

 before they fall, but as each leaf does so separately 

 the tree is not among our more prominent autumn 

 beauties. 



The long and narrow strap-shaped fruits, or 

 "keys," hang in dense drooping clusters; from a 

 glossy sap-green they become gradually streaked with 



