258 
colour; and its timber, in a mature state, is of a 
brighter red than that of the common ash.—The 
green ash, /raxvinus viridis, concolor, or acumi- 
naia, grows wild in Pennsylvania, and is easily 
recognised by the brilliant green of both surfaces 
of its leaves. It is perfectly hardy in Great Bri- 
tain, and is much esteemed for the beautiful tint 
of its foliage—The Carolinian ash, Fraxinus pla- 
tycarpa, grows wild on the marshy borders of 
creeks and rivers in North Carolina. It rarely 
exceeds 30 feet in height, but has a beautiful 
foliage.—The black or water or elder-leaved ash, 
Fraxinus sambucifolia, grows wild throughout 
the northern division of the United States, and 
was introduced to Great Britain in 1800. It has 
decidedly aquatic habits, loving a swampy soil, 
exposed to inundations; and it attains a height 
of 60 or 70 feet. Its buds are of a deep blue 
colour ; its young shoots are a bright green, tem- 
porarily dotted; its bark is of a duller hue and 
less deeply furrowed than that of the white ash, 
and has the layers of its epidermis applied in 
broad sheets; and its timber, in a mature condi- 
tion, is brown, and finer, tougher, and more elas- 
tic than that of the white ash, but less durable 
when exposed to alternations of dryness and mois- 
ture.—The numerous other species and varieties 
of American ash have not yet been fairly investi- 
gated as to their useful properties ; but they grow 
freely in our gardens, they generally possess beau- 
tiful foliage, they promise to be, without excep- 
tion, pleasingly ornamental, and all, or very nearly 
all, probably form both fine trees and valuable 
timber.—The Aleppo ash, Fraxinus lentiscifolia, 
introduced from the Levant in 1710, is a mere 
shrub of six feet in height, but forms a charming 
member of a shrubbery. —Gilpin’s Forest Scenery. 
—The Gardener's and Forester’s Guide—Treatise 
on Ornamental Planting —Loudon’s Encyclopedia 
of Plants —Miller’s Gardener's Diction—Nicol’s 
Planter’s Culendar. — Marshall on Planting.— 
Doyles Practical Husbandry.—Pontey’s Profitatle 
Planter—Sir John Sinelair’s General Report of 
Scotland —Sir John Sinclair's Code of Agriculture. 
— Withering’s Botany. — American Journal of 
Science and Arts, vol. xxiii. 
ASH (FLiowerine),—botanically Ornus. A 
small genus of ornamental, deciduous trees, of 
the olive-tree tribe. They grow to the height of 
about 30 feet, and carry white flowers. Only 
five species are known to us, the European, the 
American, the striated, the many-flowered, and 
the manna, The European flowering ash, Or- 
nus Huropea, was formerly ranked as a true 
ash, and called Fraxinus ornus,—and, in fact, 
is still very frequently so designated. Its leaf- 
lets are of a fine green, attenuatedly lance- 
shaped, smooth, serrated, placed a good way 
asunder along the midrib, in three or four, with 
usually an odd one at the end; the midrib is 
long, but not straight; the flowers are produced 
in large bunches at the ends of the shoots; the 
buds begin to swell in autumn, and have a black- 
ASH. 
ish hue; and the branches have nearly the same 
appearance in winter as those of the common 
ash, but are darker in colour. “The flowers,” 
remarks Hanbury, “exhibit themselves, not in a 
gaudy dress, but in a loose easy manner, all over 
the tree, which, together with the green leaves 
peeping from amongst this white bloom, makes 
the appearance extremely pleasing.” —The Ameri- 
can species, Ornus Americana, was introduced 
from North America in 1812. It is quite hardy, 
and usually attains a height of about 30 feet.—The 
striated species, Ornus striata, was introduced from 
North America in 1818; and is also quite hardy — 
The many-flowered species, Ornus floribunda, is a 
native of Nepal, and was introduced to Great Bri- 
tain in 1822. It is called by the Nepalese kanga 
and tahasee; and in Britain, it is somewhat ten- 
der.—The manna species, Ornus rotundifolia, is a 
native of Italy, and particularly abounds on the 
skirts of the mountains of Calabria. Jt was 
formerly regarded as a true ash, and called Mraz- 
inus rotundifolia; and it still occasionally receives 
that name. In Britain, it isa hardy plant, but 
seldom attains a height of more than 20 feet. Its 
leaflets are shorter, of a darker green, and more 
deeply serrated than those of the common ash, 
and they are nearly sessile. The well-known 
medicinal substance called manna,—a _ mild, 
slightly nauseous, highly saccharine, concrete 
mucilaginous juice — is obtained partly from 
Fraxinus virgata, partly from some other spe- 
cies of ash, and partly from ZYamarix man- 
nifera, but principally from Ornus rotundifolia. 
From the middle of June till the end of July, the 
manna-gatherers make a horizontal incision in 
the stem of the trees; and on next day, they 
deepen this incision, and so insert a maple-leaf 
as to form a sort of cup for the reception of the 
exuding juice or gum. Straws or small bits of 
reeds or twigs are also placed in contact with the 
oozing fluid; and the stalactites which form on 
these small bodies are separated, and sold as 
manna uf the finest quality, under the name of 
manna in tears. The smallest pieces of the exu- 
dation form the manna in sorts or flakes; and the 
common or fat manna is usually mixed with 
earthy or other foreign ingredicnts, and is always 
of the worst quality. The exudation of each tree 
generally continues during about a month after 
the making of the incision. The manna on which 
the Israelites fed in the wilderness was produced 
by miracle ; and probably had not one character- 
istic property in common with the manna of com- 
merce. ‘The manna flowering ash forms in Bri- 
tain a decidedly orramental tree.—Zoudon.— 
Miller —Marshall—Keith’s Botanical Lexicon— 
The London Dispensatory.—Anderson’s Commer- 
cial Dictionary. 
ASH (Movunrarn),—botanically Pyrus- aucu- 
paria. An indigenous deciduous tree, closely 
allied to the service-tree, the pear-tree, and the 
apple-tree, and producing blossoms of the rosace- 
ous order. It is popularly called roan-itree ox 
| 
