Green Ash (Fraxinus lanceolata, Borkh.)—A handsome, round-headed tree, 5o to 6o feet high, with slender spreading branches and grey twigs. Bark grey, furrowed, branches smooth. Wood heavy, hard, strong, brown, coarse grained, brittle. Buds rusty brown, very small, blunt. Leaves smooth, 5 to 9 leaflets on short stalks; ovate or lanceolate, acuminate at apex, sharply serrate, bright green on both sides, lustrous above. Flowers, April to May, before leaves, dicecious. Fruit in thick clusters, 1 inches long, oblanceolate, body round. Preferred habitat, rich soil on banks of streams. Distribution, Lake Champlain to Flor ida; west to Utah, Arizona and Texas. Uses: A beautiful shade tree, especially adapted to the regions of scant rainfall. Lumber inferior to white ash, but used for the same purposes.
The green ash has its name from the dark, lustrous foliage which is intensified in its greenness by linings of the same colour, undimmed by any pubescence or pale bloom. The planter on the treeless stretches of Nebraska and Dakota loves this ash which grows with the commoner willow and cottonwood, where many trees utterly fail. A tree it is that not only lives but flourishes, showing that it suffers no homesick pangs for a greener land.
In the East, the green ash and the red are distinct enough, the latter having velvety, the former smooth, new shoots. In the western part of the Mississippi basin are ash trees that appear to be intermediate between the two species. Professor Sargent ranks the green ash as a variety of the red. Other authorities give it rank as a species; and it would not be surprising if further study of the intergrading forms would justify the tree student in making of these a distinct species, co-ordinate with the two older ones.
The most important thing, after all, about the green ash is that it is one of the agencies which is by degrees turning the Great American Desert into a land of shady roads and comfort able, protected homesteads. East of the Alleghanies the tree is little known. West of this range the tree is one among many shade trees where variety of planting is unlimited. In the West the tree comes into its own—and has few rivals. Here people have a sort of affectionate regard for it.
The Blue Ash (Fraxinus quadrangulata, Michx.) conceals its bluing in its inner bark. Crush a bit of it in water and the dye appears. But this is not always a convenient way to identify a tree. There is a simpler and more satisfactory way. Take a look at the twigs. Are they 4-sided toward the tips? Quadrangu lata means 4-angled. This obvious trait and the perfect flowers set the blue ash apart from all the others. The leaves and seeds
might easily be confused with those of the black ash if form alone were considered.. But the foliage mass of a blue ash is yellow green, much lighter in colour than that of its sombre cousin of the swamps.
Blue-ash trees are common in the rich bottom lands of the Wabash River in Illinois, and along other tributaries of the Mississippi from southern Michigan, through Iowa and Missouri to Kansas and into Arkansas. It reaches south to the upper part of Alabama and east to the highlands of Tennessee. Some of the finest specimens grow on the limestone hills of the Big Smoky Mountains. The exact range of this tree is not known at present.
The French botanist, Michaux, fell in love, with this tall, graceful grey-stemmed ash when he found it growing among the Alleghany Mountains. He named it for its angled twigs, and sent seeds, and young trees, perhaps, to be planted in European gardens. We can do no better than to follow his example, and plant the blue ash for shade and ornament in America. It is hardy, quick of growth, and unusually free from the ills that beset trees. A well-grown specimen is a constant joy to the tree lover.
The blue ash ranks high as a timber tree. It is fully the equal of white ash, and in one particular is better even than this one. It is more durable than any other ash wood when exposed alternately to wet and dry conditions. It is used for vehicles, for flooring, and for tool handles, especially pitchforks.
Oregon Ash (Fraxinus Oregona, Nutt.)—A broad-crowned, shapely tree, 75 to 8o feet high, with stout trunk and erect, stout branches. Bark reddish grey or brown, deeply fissured, with ridges interlacing and shedding papery scales. Wood brown, coarse, hard, light, porous. Buds small, acute, with rusty or pale pubescence. Leaves compound, 5 to 14 inches long, of 5 to 7 pinnate leaflets, firm, thick, pale green above, lighter and pubescent beneath; terminal leaflet on stalk i inch long, lateral ones on shorter stalks or sessile; leaflets oblong or oval, obscurely serrate, abruptly pointed; autumn colour yellow or russet brown. Flow ers, April with leaves, dicecious, in smooth, dense panicles. Fruit in crowded clusters, each obovate, 1-1 to 2 inches long; body fusiform, about length of wing. Preferred habitat, rich, moist soil, near streams. Distribution, Pacific coast from Puget Sound to Bay of San Francisco, and back to foothills of Sierras. Uses: A valuable shade tree. Wood used for furniture, interior finish ing of houses, frames of vehicles, cooperage and fuel.