FOREST TREES. 



149 



from lanceolate to oval, entire, or slightly serrate. Fruit small 

 and crowded, somewhat club-shaped. A small tree, but rather 

 stocky ; twenty to thirty feet high, with stems a foot or more 

 in diameter. Southwest Texas, Arizona, and Mexico. A rigid 

 form of this (var. coriacea), with thick leathery leaves, fre- 

 quents the arid districts of Arizona. 



F. platyearpa, Michx. — Water Ash. — Leaflets five to seven, 

 ovate-oblong, pointed, and sharply serrate or entire. Fruit ellip- 

 tical, broad above, two inches long, contracted below, sometimes 

 three-winged. Young branches round, smooth or pubescent. A 

 small tree, thirty or forty feet high, from Southern Virginia in 

 swamps to Florida, and westward to Louisiana. Said to be also 

 found in Cuba. 



F. pubescens, Lam. — Red Ash. — Leaflets seven to nine, oblong- 

 ovate, gradually pointed, green above, and pale velvety 

 beneath. The young branches and leaves are quite velvety at 

 first, hence the specific name. Inside of the bark reddish or 

 cinnamon-color. A small, but rather slender tree, in swamps, 

 and along streams. Canada to Florida, and westward to 

 Dakota, but far more common in the Eastern than in the West- 

 em States. 



F. sambacifolia. — ^Black Ash. — Lsaflets seven to eleven, green 

 on both sides, oblong-lanceolate, form a roundish base, grad- 

 ually tapering to a point, finely and sharply serrate. Flowers 

 entirely naked. The crushed leaves exhale the odor of the com- 

 mon Elder (Sambucus). Fruit flat, and winged all around. 

 Tree of moderate size, but quite tall, stems slender, a foot in 

 diameter in trees sixty to seventy feet high, in rich swamps, 

 and along streams. Wood coarse-grained, but exceedingly 

 tough, readily separated into thin layers, hence its extensive 

 use by the early settlers in our Northern States for seating 

 chairs, making baskets, and various other household uses. A 

 valuable tree for planting in moist and wet soils. Canada to 

 Virginia, and westward to Arkansas. 



F. Tiridis, Michx. — Green Ash. — Leaflets five to nine, bright 

 green on both sides, sometimes a little whitish on the under 

 side ; oblong-ovate, more or less toothed. Fruit flattish, two- 

 edged at base, widening into a long, lance linear wing. A 

 variable species, closely allied to the Red Ash, but a smaller 

 tree, most common in low grounds. West and South, but found 

 from Canada to Florida, and westward to Dakota and Arizona. 



