116 



Common Trees 



WHITE ASH 



Fraxinus americana, Linnaeus 



THE WHITE Ash is the most beautiful and useful of our 

 native Ashes. 



The leaves are opposite, about 10 inches long, compound, 

 with 5 to 9 leaflets. Leaflets are 3 to 5 inches long, evidently 

 stalked, smooth or obscurely toothed on margin, smooth and 

 dark - green above, silvery- 

 white below. 



The flowers are of two 

 kinds. The pollen - bearing 

 occur in dense reddish-purple^ 

 clusters, the seed - producing 

 in rather open panicles. 



The fruit is a winged seed, 

 1 to 2 inches long. The wing 

 is long, narrow, attached to 

 the end of seed. The seeds 

 are grouped in loose droop- 

 ing clusters. 



The grayish-brown, and 

 rather thick bark soon be- 

 comes rough, dividing into 

 diamond-shaped fissures. The 

 twigs are smooth, grayish- 

 brown, flattened at nodes, marked with scattered pale dots. 

 The buds are opposite, egg-shaped, dark-brown, blunt- 

 pointed. Terminal buds are larger than the laterals. 



The wood is very heavy, hard, tough, elastic, with light 

 sapwood and brownish heartwood. It is used widely, par- 

 ticularly for athletic equipment, agricultural implements, 

 tools, furniture, interior finishings. 



The White Ash is found from Nova Scotia to Minnesota 

 to Florida and Texas. It is common throughout New York, 

 going up to about 2,000 feet in the Adirondacks. It is 

 found on the north shore of Long Island and on Staten 

 island. Fertile, moist soils, moist woods, meadow-lands, 

 borders of lakes and streams are its favorite home. It often 

 becomes 70 to 80 feet high and 3 feet in diameter, grows 

 rapidly, is easily propagated. 



The Red Ash — Fraxinus pennsylvanica — is a medium- 

 sized tree. It can be distinguished from the White Ash by 

 its hairy twigs and leaf-stalks. Its leaflets are narrower. It 

 is common throughout New York outside and chiefly south 

 of the Adirondacks. 



WHITE ASH 

 One-fourth natural size. 



