DECIDUOUS ORNAMENTAL TREES. 
141 
The White ash. ( Fraxinus Americana ) This species, 
according to Michaux, is common to the colder parts of the 
Union, and is most abundant north of the Hudson. It 
owes its name to the light color of the bark, which on large 
stocks is deeply furrowed, and divided into squares of one 
to three inches in diameter. The trunk is perfectly straight, 
and in close woods is often undivided to the height of more 
than 40 feet. The leaves are composed of three or four 
pairs of leaflets, terminated by an odd one ; the whole 
twelve or fourteen inches long. Early in spring they are 
covered with a light down which disappears as summer 
advances, when they become quite smooth, of a light green 
color above and whitish beneath. The foliage, as well as 
the timber of our White ash, is finer than that of the com- 
mon European ash, and the tree is much prized in France 
and Germany. 
The Black ash {F. sambucifolia), sometimes called the 
Water ash, requires a moist soil to thrive well, and is seen 
in the greatest perfection on the borders of swamps. Its 
buds are of a deep blue ; the young shoots of a bright green, 
sprinkled with dots of the same color, which disappear as 
the season advances. It may readily be distinguished from 
the White ash by its bark, which is of a duller hue and less 
deeply furrowed. The Black ash is altogether a tree of 
less stature than the preceding. 
The other native sorts are the Red ash (F. tomentosa ), 
with the bark of a deep brown tint, found in Pennsylvania : 
the Green ash (F. viridis), which also grows in Pennsyl- 
vania, and is remarkable for the brilliant green of both sides 
of the leaves : the Blue ash (F. Quadrangulata), a beauti- 
ful tree of Kentucky, 70 feet high, distinguished by the four 
opposite membranes of a greenish color, found on the young 
