RED ASH. 
19 
by amateurs for the singular tint of its foliage, which is strikingly con- 
trasted with that of the surrounding trees. 
PLATE CXX. 
A branch with leaves of half the natural size. Fig. 1 , Seeds of the natural 
size. 
RED ASH, 
Fraxinus pubescens. Linn. 
Fraxinus tomentosa. F. foliolis subnovcnis, dentatis, petiolatis ; ramulis petio- 
Usque pubescenti-tomentosis. 
Of all the Ashes this species is the most multiplied in Pennsylvania, 
Maryland and Virginia. It is commonly called Red Ash, and frequently 
Ash. Like the White Ash it prefers swamps and places frequently inun- 
dated or liable to be covered with water by copious rains, and in these 
situations it is accompanied by the Shell-bark Hickory, Bitternut Hickory, 
Swamp White Oak, Red Maple, Sweet Gum and Tupelo. 
The Red Ash is a beautiful tree, rising perpendicularly to the height of 
60 feet with a diameter of 15 or 18 inches. It is inferior to the White 
Ash not only in size but in the rapidity of its growth ; the length of the 
annual shoots and the distance of the buds are but half as great as in the 
preceding species. 
The leaves are from 12 to 15 inches long, and are composed of three or 
four pair of very acuminate, denticulated leaflets, with an odd one. Their 
lower surface, as well as the shoots of the same season to which they are 
attached, is covered with a thick down : on insulated trees this down is 
red at the approach of autumn, whence, probably, is derived the name of 
Red Ash. The seeds are shorter than those of the White Ash, but simi- 
lar in form and arrangement. 
The bark upon the trunk is of a deep brown, and the perfect wood is of 
a brighter red than that of the White Ash. The wood of this species pos- 
