Ash (Fraxinus) is, a genus of deciduous trees belonging to the natural order Oleaceae, having imperfect flowers and a seed-vessel prolonged into a thin wing at the apex (called a samara). There are a good many species, chiefly indigenous to Europe and North America. The common ash {Fraximus excelsior), indigenous to Britain, has a smooth bark, and grows tall and rather slender. The branches are flattened; the leaves have five pairs of pinnae, terminated by an odd one, dark-green in colour; lanceolate, with serrated edges. The flowers are produced in loose spikes from the sides of the branches. and are succeeded by flat seeds which ripen in autumn. It is one of the most useful of British trees on account of the excellence of its hard, tough, elastic wood and the rapidity of its growth. There are many varieties of it, as the weeping-ash, the curled-leaved ash, the entire-leaved ash, etc. The flowering or manna ash (Fraximus Ornus), by some placed in a distinct genus (Ornus), is a native of the south of Europe and Palestine. It yields the substance called manna, which is obtained by making incisions in the bark, when the juice exudes and hardens. Among American species are the white ash (Fraximus americana), with lighter bark and leaves; the red or black ash (Fraximus pubescens), with a brown bark; the black ash (Fraximus sambucifolia), the blue ash, the green ash, etc. They are all valuable trees. The mountain-ash or rowan belongs to a different order. Research Ash
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Matt and Leela Probert
Abbreviations
Nature
Research Ash
