KKI) ASH 

 / ■ ■ ■ • , . nsylvanica Marsh, 



The Olive l'amil> 

 01 EA< I 



Hal it and Habitat: The red ash is about the same sized tree as the 

 white ash in our rtate, 50 t tall, with a trunk diameter of 12-18 



inches. The several stout, upright branches, and tin- - form 



ompact, broad, and irregular crown. In the open the crown becomes 

 beautifully rounded and symmetric; This species also prefers the 

 moist loamy Boil of river banks and river bottoms, hut it is some- 

 times Been in rather marshy Bites. It does not do so well in dry, open 

 sit ■ 



Leaves and Buds: The Leaves are opposite, pinnately compound, 

 « *> - 1 ii inches long; leaflets 7-9, commonly 7, 2-1 inches long, l-i 1 - inches 



wide, short-stalked, oblong, gradually tapering, entire or slightly serrate, 

 thin and firm, leathery when dry, smooth and yellowish-green above, 



pah' and downy beneath; petioles and midribs hairy. 



Flowers and Fruits: Flowers produced in May as the leaves are 

 unfolding, borne in dense, downy clusters on the shoots of the previous 



it; the calyx is shallow, eup-shaped, 4-lobed or toothed; corolla 0; 



mens 2; ovary 2-celled. As in the white ash the staminate and pis- 

 tillate flowers are borne by different trees. The fruits are also more 

 or less paddle-shaped as in the white ash but in the red ash the fiat 

 wing extends as two narrow flanges for some distance along the seed 

 back from the tip. and the wing is commonly longer and narrower 

 also. The dense clusters of fruits often cling to the twigs throughout the 

 winter or even for a full year after they are formed. 



Bark, Twigs and Wood: The twigs are pale and downy when young, 

 finally after 1-3 years becoming ashy or gray or brownish and often 

 covered with a grayish or whitish "bloom"; bark on old branches and 

 main trunk dark yellowish gray, with close-fitting shallow, longitudinal 

 furrows and ridges, becoming somewhat scaly. The wood is heavy, 

 hard, strong, coarse-grained, light brown, with broad yellowish sapwood; 

 often used for fence posts and stove wood in our state. 



Distribution in the State: This species has also entered the state 

 from the southeast and has spread along the stream courses as the 

 chief lines of dispersal entirely across the state where it is found in a 

 great variety of sites often quite different from those which th< ies 



really prefers. The B - lias been planted very commonly and widely 



in Nebraska as a shade and ornamental tree for which purposes it is 

 very adaptable. .Map 45. 



Remarks: The red ash was used quite extensively by the earlier 

 a of Nebraska for planting on their "timber claims". This v 



particularly true for central to west «rn Nebraska where the red ash and 

 common cottonwood were the commonest Bpecies used for such pur- 

 Many of the timber claims gr< I red ash are now in very 

 ! condition b- they have not been cared for at all; Btock and ft] 



have been allowed free access to the plantations and t ; conditio 

 ether with the rather i climatic and soil conditions have i 



suited in serious depletion of the groves and deterioration of the tre< 



L63— 



