1214 ARBORETUM AND FRUTICETUM. PART HI. 



Schkuhr Ilandb., t. 375. ; Lam. III., t. 858 ; Gtertn. Fruct, 1. 1. 39. ; Lindl. Nat. Syst., Bot , p 308 • 

 Don's Mill., 4. p. 53. 



Synonymes. FrC-ne, Fr. ; Esche, Ger. 



Derivation. The derivation of /'raxinus given in Don's Miller is, from phrasso, to enclose; the ash 

 having boon formerly used for making hedges. Linnaeus derives it from phraxis, a separation, be- 

 cause the wood splits easily. Others derive it from, frangitur, because the young branches are easily 

 broken ; or which may have been applied ironically, in allusion to the extreme toughness of the old 

 wood. None of these derivations, however, appears very satisfactory. The English name of ash 

 may be derived either from the Saxon word cese, a pike; or from the colour of the bark of the 

 trunk and branches, which resembles that of wood ashes. 



Gen. Char., $c. Floivers polygamous. Calyx none, or 4-parted, or 4-toothed. 

 Corolla none. Stamens 2, in the male flowers. Anthers sessile, or on short 

 filaments, dehiscing outwardly. Female floivers the same, except that they 

 have no stamens, but have each a pistil, that has a bifid stigma. Fruit, 

 or samara, 2-celled, compressed, winged at top. Cells 1-seeded. (Don's 

 Mill., iv. p. 53.) — Deciduous trees, with opposite, impari-pinnate, rarely 

 simple leaves ; and lateral racemes of greenish yellow flowers. Natives 

 of Europe, the north of Africa, part of Asia, and of North America. 

 The species are raised from seeds ; and the varieties chiefly by grafting 

 on Fraxinus excelsior, but partly also from seeds. There is a great 

 tendency in all the species to sport into varieties ; and many of what 

 are by botanists described as species are, in our opinion, not entitled 

 to that distinction. In the neighbourhood of Edinburgh, on the banks 

 of the Esk, more especially on the estate of Dalhousie, we are in- 

 formed that the ash is indigenous over several acres of steep rocky de- 

 clivities bordering the river, and that many very distinct varieties may 

 there be collected. The American ash seems as prolific in varieties as the 

 European species ; and some of these varieties, which by botanists are 

 treated as species, generally come true from seed ; a circumstance no 

 more surprising than that particular varieties of fruit trees should fre- 

 quently come nearly as true to the parent variety, as the seedlings of 

 species come true to species. All the ashes are of easy culture in good 

 soil, and in a sheltered situation. The general price of the American 

 plants is from 1*. 6d. to 2s. 6d. per plant ; and seeds may be obtained of six 

 or seven of the sorts at 4d. per quart. 



A. Leajlets broad, smooth or shining on the upper surface. Natives 



of Europe. 



^ 1. F. excf/lsior L. The taller, or common, Ash. 



Identification. Lin. Sp.> p. 1509. ; Willd. Sp., 4. p. 1099. ; Don's Mill., 4. p. 53. ; Lodd. Cat, ed. 1836. 

 Synonymes. F. apctala Lam. Fl. Fr., Lam. III., t. 858. f. 1. ; F. rostrata Guss. Fl. Bar., p. 374. ; F. 



O'rnus Scop. Cam., No. 1249. ; F. erbsa Pers. ; F. crispa Bosc ; le Frene, Fr. ; Aesche or Esche, 



Ger. and Dutch ; Ask, Dan. and Swed. ; Frassino, Ital. ; Fresno, Span. ; Freixo, Port. ; Jas, 



Jasen, or Jassen, Russ. ; JEse, Sax. 

 Engravings. Fl. Dan., t. 969. ; Smith Eng. Bot., 1. 1692. ; Svensk. Bot, 175. ; Lam. 111., t. 858. f. 1. ; 



Blackw., t 328. ; Dodon. Pempt, 771. ; Lob. Icon., 2. p. 107. I 2. ; our fig. 1044. ; and the plates in 



our last Volume. 



Spec. Char. y Sec Leaflets almost sessile, lanceolate-oblong, acuminate, ser- 

 rated, cuneated at the base. Flowers naked. Samara obliquely emarginate 

 at the apex. The leaves have generally 5 pairs of leaflets, but sometimes 6. 

 The flowers are produced in loose spikes, from the sides of the branches. 

 On some there are only female flowers ; on others hermaphrodite ones ; 

 and on others male ones; while on some trees the flowers are found in two 

 of these states, or in all of them. (Don's Mill., iv. p. 53.) A tree, from 

 30 ft. to 80 ft. high, flowering in March and April, before the leaves appear. 



Varieties. These are very numerous; but we shall give chiefly those which 

 arc allowed to be varieties by botanists, and are described as such in Don's 

 Miller, or in our llortus liritaunicus ; afterwards indicating those which 

 are treated by botanists as species, and which we have accordingly kept 

 distinct, but which we are decidedly of opinion are nothing more than 

 varieties. 



r P. e. 2 pendula Ait. Hort. Kew, ed. 2., vol. v. p. 475., Lodd. Cat., ed. 

 1836; I'Ycne Parasol, Fr. ; and the plate in our last Volume. 

 The pendulous, or weeping, Ash. •-- Branches pendulous. This sin- 



