CCXV.— THE ASH. 
Fra x in us excelsior Linne. 
A comparatively small proportion of the Sympetal# assume the dimensions 
of trees and most of those that do so are Tropical forms. Engler’s third 
Order, the Ebenales, is largely made up of such Tropical trees and has no British 
representatives. His fourth Order, known from the usually convolute corollas of 
its flowers by the somewhat unfortunate name Contort#, contains plants of all sizes, 
natives of all latitudes. They usually have opposite, exstipulate leaves ; from two 
to six parts in each floral whorl ; a single whorl of stamens which are generally 
epipetalous ; and two united carpels. Besides several mainly Tropical Families, of 
which the largest is the Asclepiadace #, the Order includes three Families possessing 
British representatives, the Oleace #, Gentianace #, and Apocynace #. 
The Olive Family, or Oleace #, numbers some twenty genera and four hundred 
species, shrubs and trees, belonging mostly to Tropical or Warmer Temperate 
latitudes. Besides the valuable tree that gives its name to the Family, the Ashes, 
Lilacs, Privets, and, by most modern botanists, the Jasmines, are included in this 
group. The leaves may be either simple or compound, and the inflorescence 
racemose or cymose ; whilst the flowers are polysymmetric and generally perfect, 
consisting usually of four united valvate sepals, four united petals, two epipetalous 
stamens, and two carpels united as a superior ovary. The fruit differs in character 
in almost every genus of the Family ; and, as in the Common Ash, some of the 
flowers may be apetalous and unisexual. 
The genus Fraxinus includes some forty species, natives of the Northern 
Hemisphere. They are deciduous trees with simple or imparipinnate leaves and 
wind-pollinated flowers which are generally polygamous and may, as in our species, 
be entirely destitute of any perianth. On the other hand, they may, as in the 
Manna Ash of southern Europe ( Fraxinus Ornus Linn£), have both calyx and 
corolla. There are two or three ovules in each of the two chambers of the ovary, 
which becomes a flattened samara with a single terminal wing ; but as a rule only 
one ovule in each ovary becomes a seed. 
The distinctive characters of our one British species, Fraxinus excelsior Linne, are 
the absence of the perianth and the pinnate leaves of from nine to seventeen oblong- 
lanceolate, serrate leaflets. Although the etymology of the Classical Latin Fraxinus 
is unknown, there can be little doubt that the specific name excelsior , the comparative 
of excelsus , lofty, which Linnaeus adopted from Bauhin, means “ very lofty ” ; and, 
since this species attains heights of eighty or ninety feet, it is certainly appropriate. 
Though capable of growing in almost any soil and at altitudes of 1,350 feet in 
Yorkshire and 4,000 feet in the Alps, the Ash requires shelter for its perfect 
development and loves a deep, well-drained, rich loam. As the old ballad says : — 
“ The Oak, the Ash, and the Ivy tree — 
Oh, they flourish best at hame in the north countrie.’* 
