OLIVE FAMILY 
IWood.—Light yellow streaked with brown, sapwood a lighter yel- 
low ; heavy, hard, close-grained. Sp. gr., 0.7184; weight of cu. ft., 
44.77 lbs. 
Winter Buds.—Terminal bud one-fourth inch long; outer scales 
fall when spring growth begins, inner scales enlarge and become 
green. 
Leaves.—Opposite, compound, unequally pinnate, eight to twelve 
inches long; leaflets five to nine, petiolate, three to five inches long, 
one to two inches broad, ovate-oblong, unequally round- 
ed or wedge-shaped at base, serrate, acuminate. They 
come out of the bud conduplicate, coated with brown 
tomentum, when full grown are thick, dark green and 
shining above, pale, smooth or hairy beneath; in au- 
tumn they turn from brown and purple to yellow. 
Petiolules short and grooved. 
Flowers.—April, before the leaves. Perfect, borne in 
loose panicles developed from buds formed in the axils Flower of Blue 
of leaves of the previous year. Ash, Fraxi- 
nus quadran- 
Caly.x.—Reduced to a ring. spaidalie 
Corolla.—W anting. 
Stamens.—Two, nearly sessile; anthers dark purple, oblong, ob- 
tuse, introrse, two-celled ; cells opening longitudinally. 
Pistil.—Ovary superior, two-celled; style 
short with two, pale purple, stigmatic lobes. 
Ovules two in each cell. 
fruit——Samaras, borne in panicles, lin- 
ear-oblong, one to two inches long, one-fourth 
to one inch wide ; the broad wing surrounding 
the long flat body, emarginate, many-rayed. 
September, October. Cotyledons elliptical. 
The Blue Ash belongs to that group 
of trees native to the valley of the Miss- 
issippi. Its habitat extends from south- 
ern Michigan to central Missouri and 
southward to eastern Tennessee and 
northern Alabama and through Iowa 
and Missouri to northeastern Arkansas. 
Some trees like the Rhododendron re- 
fuse to grow upon limestone; the Blue Ash prefers it. Its 
chosen locations are rich limestone hills, but it will flourish 
in fertile bottom lands. 
It may be distinguished among ashes by its peculiar stout, 
Samaras of Blue Ash, Frax- 
inus quadrangulata. 
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