chap. lxxv. olea s ce;e. .fra'xinus. J 233 



their leaves. The species or variety under consideration is abundant in New 

 Brunswick and Canada ; and, as a cold climate is more congenial to it than a 

 warm one, it is found in greater numbers north of the Hudson River than 

 south of it. Its favourite situations are the banks of rivers and the edges or 

 acclivities of swamps, where it attains the height of 80 ft., with a trunk 3 ft. 

 in diameter. In " the upper part of New Hampshire, it is always accom- 

 panied by the white elm ( tTlmus montana), yellow birch (Betula lutea), 

 white maple (^f cer eriocarpum), hemlock spruce (^4 v bies canadensis), and 

 black spruce (J v bies nigra) ; and in New Jersey it is mingled with the red 

 maple (A^cer rubrum), shell-bark hickory (Carya alba), and button-wood 

 (Platanus occidentals). In large trees, the heart-wood is reddish, and the 

 sap-wood is white. It is used, in America, for all the various purposes to 

 which the wood of the ash is applied in Europe; and for other uses peculiar 

 to the circumstances of the former country. The wood is exported to Europe, 

 and especially to England, in planks. About the year 1826, when Cobbett 

 became a nurseryman, and strongly recommended several kinds of American 

 trees, several plantations were formed, in different parts of England, of the 

 white ash : but a sufficient time has not yet elapsed to judge of the value of 

 the tree as compared with the common European ash. The American sorts 

 of ash, it is observed by Descemet, writing at Odessa, have the great advan- 

 tage of prospering in soils where the European ash will languish. They are 

 not, he says, like F. excelsior, subject to lose their leaves by the ravages 

 of the insect Cantharis vesicatoria in the middle of summer, and may, 

 consequently, be planted in the neighbourhood of dwelling-houses. They 

 resist the burning heats of summer much better than the European ash 

 tree, and maintain a deep green foliage during the hottest weather, when 

 that of the common ash becomes pale, and very frequently withers and drops : 

 in short, the American ash trees, he adds, deserve to be extensively culti- 

 vated in forests, in lines for bordering roads, and in small groups in parks and 

 pleasure-grounds. {Tableau Historique, &c, p. 39.) In the neighbourhood of 

 London, young trees are generally more or less injured by the spring frosts ; 

 nevertheless, in Surrey, at St. Ann's Hill, there is a tree, 36 years planted, 

 which is 33 ft. high ; and in Bedfordshire, at Southhill,one, 22 years planted, 

 which is 14 ft. high. In France, at Clairvault, a tree, 30 years planted, is 

 30 ft. high. The plants of this species in the Horticultural Society's Garden, 

 were, in 1835, from 10 ft. to 15 ft. high, after being 10 years planted. Price 

 of plants, in the London nurseries, Is. 6d. each, and of seeds 4*. per quart; at 

 Bollwyller, plants are 1 franc; and at New York, 50 cents. 



¥ 10. F. (a.) pube'scens Walt. The downy Ash. 



Identification. Walt. Fl. Car., p. 254.; Vahl Enum., p. 51. ; Pursh Fl. Amer. Sept., 1. p. 9.; Willd. 



Sp., 4. p. 1103. ; Don's Mill., 4. p. 55. 

 Synonymes. F. nigra Du Roi Harbk., ed. 2., vol. 1. p. 398. ; F. tomentosa Michx. N. Amer. Syl, 3. 



p. 63. ; red Ash, black Ash, Amer. 

 Engravings. Michx. N. Amer. Syl., 3. t. 119. ; and ova fig. 1056. 



Spec. Char., fyc. Leaflets 3 — 4 pairs, petiolate, elliptic-ovate, serrated, downy 

 or tomentose beneath, as well as the petioles and branches. Flowers caly- 

 culate. Racemes rather compound. Calyx campanulate. Samara narrow- 

 lanceolate, obtuse, with a short mucro at the apex, 2 in. long. Stamens 

 2—3—4. (Don's Mill, iv. p. 55.) A tree, 30 ft. high ; introduced in 181 1, 

 and flowering in May. Though Michaux has described the leaflets as den- 

 ticulated, yet in his figure, of which fig. 1056. is a reduced copy, they are 

 perfectly entire, as they are for the most part in the living plants at 

 Messrs. Loddiges. 



Varieties. 



2 F. (a.) p. 2longifolia Willd. Sp., iv. p. 1103., Pursh Fl. Amer. Sept., 1. 

 p. 9., Lodd. Cat., ed. 1836 ; F. pennsylvanica Marsh.; has the 

 leaflets ovate-lanceolate, attenuated, somewhat serrated. 

 * F. (a.) p. 3 latifolia Willd., Pursh Fl. Amer. Sept., 1. p. 9., has the 

 leaflets ovate, broad. 



4 m 2 



