IDENTIFYING ASH TWIGS IN WINTER 



By VV. M. Buswell. 



\ LTHOUGH there are several books describing the ap- 

 -^^^ pearance of trees and shrubs in winter and supposed to 

 be the means for their identification, there does not seem to 

 be a description of the white or black ashes by which they can 



readily be distinguished at this 

 season. It is usually as easy 

 to distinguish a common elm 

 from the slippery elm or a red 

 oak from a black oak by the 

 buds as by any other means and 

 in many other trees where the 

 difference in bark and foliage 

 is slight and variable, the buds 

 often show a marked difference 

 With the black and white 

 ashes, however, it is just the 

 other way about. One can 

 easily identify the two trees in 

 summer by the sessile leaflets 

 of the black ash and the petiolu- 

 late leaflets of the white ash, 

 or by the samaras of either tree 

 when present, but naming the 

 species from the bud alone is a 

 more difficult matter. There is 

 s IP a way, however, by which this 



' may be accomplished and even 



Ash twigs. Black ash on the twigs mav be identified at a 



left, white ash on right 



distance. 



