ASH, a common name given to certain trees. The European ash (Fraxinus excelsior) belongs to the family Oleaceae, a group of trees and shrubs which includes also olive, lilac, privet and jas mine. The Hebrew word Oren, translated "ash" in Isaiah xliv. 14, cannot refer to an ash tree, as that is not a native of Palestine, but probably refers to the Aleppo pine (Pinus halepensis). The ash is a native of Great Britain and the greater part of Europe, and also extends to Asia. The tree is distinguished for its height and contour, as well as for its graceful foliage. It attains a height of from 5o to 8oft., and flowers in March and April, before the leaves are developed. The reddish flowers grow in clusters, but are not showy. They are naked, that is without sepals or petals, and generally imperfect, wanting either stamens or pistil. The large leaves, which are late in appearing, are pinnately compound, bearing four to seven pairs of gracefully tapering toothed leaflets on a slender stalk. The dry winged fruits, the so-called keys, are a characteristic feature and often remain hanging in bunches long after the leaves have fallen in autumn. The leaves fall early, but the greyish twigs and black buds render the tree conspicuous in winter and especially in early spring.
A variety of the common species, known as var. heterophylla, has simple leaves. It occurs wild in woods in Europe and England. Another variety of ash (pendula) is met with in which the branches are pendulous and weeping. Sometimes this variety is grafted on the tall stem of the common ash, so as to produce a pleasing effect. This variety has been propagated from a single tree which appeared as a sport. at Wimpole in Cambridgeshire. A variety (crisps) occurs with curled leaves, and another with warty stems and branches, called verrucosa. F. Ornus is the flow ering ash or manna ash (see MANNA), a handsome tree with greenish-white flowers and native in south Europe. In southern Europe there is a small-leaved ash, called Fraxinus parvi f olia. F. floribunda, a large tree with terminal panicles of white flowers, is a native of the Himalayas.
In North America there are upwards of 20 native species, or about one-third of the known species of ash. Several are valuable timber trees, the most important of which are the white ash (F. americana), the black ash (F. nigra), the green ash (F. lanceolate) and the red ash (F. pennsylvanica), of the central, eastern and southern United States, and the Oregon ash (F. oregona) of the Pacific Northwest. Other noteworthy representatives are the blue ash (F. quadrangulata), found chiefly in the Mississippi valley; the swamp ash (F. caroliniana) of the southeastern coast ; the water ash (F. paucifolia) of Georgia and Florida; the pumpkin ash (F. pro/undo) of the southeastern States ; and the velvet ash (F. velutina) and the single-leaf ash (F. anomala) of the arid South west. Especially interesting are the foot-hill ash (F. dipetala) of the California mountains, and the flowering ash (F. cuspidata) of New Mexico and Texas, both small trees bearing conspicuous white flowers, those of the latter extremely fragrant. In size the North American species range from mere shrubs in desert regions to immense trees, the white ash, one of the finest American hard woods, attaining in the lower Ohio valley a height of I2oft. and a trunk diameter of 5f eet. According to the U.S. census the cut of ash lumber in 1925 amounted to 179,00o,000bd.ft., produced chiefly in the Mississippi valley, and sold, with the exception of black walnut, at the highest average price of any American timber.
The mountain ash or rowan (Pyres Aucuparia) belongs to the family Rosaceae, and the tribe Pomeae, which includes also apples and pears. The name of poison ash is given to Rhus Vernix, the North American poison elder or sumach, belonging to the Ana cardiaceae (Cashew family). The bitter ash of the West Indies is Simaruba excelsa, which belongs to the family Simarubaceae. The Cape ash is Ekebergia capensis, belonging to the family Meliaceae, a large tree, a native of the Cape of Good Hope.
His poems have been collected from various sources in L. Cheikho's Les Poetes arabes chretiens (Beirut, 189o) , pp. His eulogy of Mohammed has been edited by H. Thorbecke, Al Asa's Lobgedicht auf Muhammad (Leipzig, 1875) .