Fig. 738
Leaves5′—7′ long, with a slender pale petiole sometimes slightly wing-margined, and 3—7 lanceolate or ovate-lanceolate long-stalked leaflets gradually narrowed at apex into a long slender point, cuneate at base nearly entire or coarsely and remotely serrate above the middle with recurved teeth (var.serrataRehd.), or with 3—5, rarely 7-foliolate leaves, with broader often ovate entire leaflets occasionally with simple leaves at the base of the branchlets (var.macropetalaRehd.); slightly puberulous when they unfold on the lower surface, and at maturity thin, dark green above, paler below, 1½′—2½′ long and ¼′—¾′ wide, with a pale midrib and obscure veins; petiolules slender, sometimes nearly 1′ in length.Flowersperfect, extremely fragrant, appearing in April, in open glabrous panicles 3′—4′ long and broad, terminal on lateral leafy branchlets developed from the axils of leaves of the previous year, calyx cup-shaped,1/16′ long, with acute apiculate attenuate teeth of unequal length, deciduous, corolla ⅔′ long, thin and white, divided to below the middle into 4 linear-oblong lobes pointed at apex, and much longer than the nearly sessile oblong long-pointed anthers ovary 2-celled, with a thick 2-lobed nearly sessile stigma.Fruitelliptic to oblong-obovate, 1′ long and ¼′ wide, the wing round and slightly emarginate at apex, and decurrent nearly to the base of the flat nerveless longer body.
A tree, rarely 20° high, with a short trunk 6′—8′ in diameter, and slender terete branchlets light red-brown when they first appear, soon becoming darker and marked by scatteredpale lenticels and ashy gray and roughened by the dark elevated lunate leaf-scars in their second year; more often a shrub or small shrubby tree, with numerous slender spreading stems 6°—8° tall.Winter-buds: terminal acute, nearly ½′ long, with dark reddish brown glutinous scales.
Distribution.Rocky slopes and dry ridges; Western Texas, valley of the Rio Grande (mouth of Devil’s River, Valverde County) to the Chisos Mountains, and in southern New Mexico; in Coahuila, Nuevo Leon and Chihuahua; the var.macropetalain cañons of northern Arizona; the var.serrata(fig. 738) in Coahuila.
Fig. 739
Leaves1½′—3′ long, with a winged petiole and rachis, and 3—7 narrow spatulate to oblong-obovate leaflets entire or crenately serrate above the middle with remote teeth, a slender midrib, and obscure reticulate veins, thick and coriaceous, dark green on the upper surface rather paler and covered with small black dots on the lower surface, ½′—¾′ long, ⅛′—¼′ wide, and nearly sessile.Flowersperfect or unisexual, on slender pedicels ⅛′—¼′ long, from theaxils of ovate acuminate rusty-pubescent bracts, in pubescent panicles ½′—¾′ in length; calyx campanulate, scarious; stamens 1 or 2, filaments longer than the calyx, anthers declinate, nearly ⅛′ long; ovary broad-ovate, rounded at apex, longer than the calyx, the short style terminating in large reflexed stigmatic lobes.Fruitnarrow-spathulate to oblong-obovate, ½′—⅔′ long and about ¼′ wide, the thin wing decurrent on the short terete body, rounded and emarginate at apex and tipped with the elongated persistent conspicuous style.
A tree, rarely 20°—25° high, with a trunk 8°—10° long and occasionally 8′ in diameter, and slender terete branchlets dark green and puberulous when they first appear, soon becoming ashy gray and roughened by numerous minute pale elevated lenticels, gradually turning dark gray, or brown in their second and third years; more often a shrub, with numerous slender erect stems 4°—12° tall.Winter-buds: terminal, about ⅛′ long, obtuse, with thick ovate light brown pubescent scales rounded on the back.Barkof the trunk thin, gray or light brown tinged with red, separating on the surface into large papery scales.Woodheavy, hard, close-grained, brown, with thick lighter-colored sapwood.
Distribution.Western Texas, along rocky beds of streams and deep ravines, Valverde County (near Devil’s River, Del Rio and Comstock); on the mountains of northeastern Mexico; apparently most common and of its largest size on the Sierra Nevada of Nuevo Leon.
Fig. 740
Leaves3½′—6′ long, with a stout glabrous or slightly villose petiole, and 5 or rarely 3 ovate stalked leaflets, acuminate and long-pointed, acute or rarely rounded at apex, cuneate at base, serrate, often only above the middle, with small remote teeth, yellow-green, glabrous, or puberulous along the midrib above, glabrous or rarely sparingly villose near the base of the slender pale midrib below, 2¼′—3′ long and 1′—1½′ wide, with thin primary veins arching and united near the slightly thickened and revolute margins; on vigorous shoots occasionally 1-foliolate with a broad-ovate or semiorbicular leaflet.Flowersunknown.Fruitripening in July, in long glabrous panicles, oblong-obovate to oblong-elliptic, surrounded at base by the minute slightly dentate calyx, 1′—1½′ long, ¼′—⅓′ wide, the wing broad or gradually narrowed and rounded, and often emarginate at apex and extending to the base of the thin compressed many-rayed body about three-quarters the length of the fruit.
A tree, 20°—25° high, with dark deeply furrowed bark, stout quadrangular often winged branchlets orange-brown in their first season and dark gray-brown the following year.
Distribution.Arizona, rocky slopes of Oak Creek Cañon about twenty miles south of Flagstaff, Coconino County, and in Copper Cañon, west of Camp Verde, Yavapai County.
Fig. 741
Leavesmostly reduced to a single leaflet but occasionally 2 or 3-foliolate, the leaflets broad-ovate or orbicular, rounded or acute or rarely obcordate at apex, cuneate or cordate at base, and entire, or sparingly crenately serrate above the middle, covered above when they unfold with short pale hairs and pubescent beneath, and at maturity thin but rather coriaceous, dark green above, paler below, 1½′—2′ long and 1′—2′ wide, or when more than one much smaller, with a broad rather conspicuous midrib and obscure veins, and when solitary raised on a stout grooved petiole rusty-pubescent early in the season, becoming glabrous, and often 1½′ long, or short-petiolulate in the compound leaves.Flowersappearing when the leaves are about two thirds grown, in short compact pubescent panicles, with strap-shaped or lanceolate acute bracts ½′ long and covered with thick brown villose tomentum, perfect or unisexual by the abortion of the stamens, the 2 forms occurring in the same panicle; calyx cup-shaped, minutely 4-toothed; anthers linear-oblong, orange colored, raised on slender filaments nearly as long as the stout columnar style.Fruitobovate, ½′ long, the wing rounded and often deeply emarginate at apex, surrounding the short flattened striately nerved body, and ⅓′ wide.
A tree, 18°—20° high, with a short trunk 6′—7′ in diameter, stout contorted branches forming a round-topped head, and branchlets at first quadrangular, dark green tinged with red and covered with pale pubescence, orange colored and puberulous in their first winter and marked by elevated pale lenticels and narrow lunate leaf-scars, and in their second or third year terete and ashy gray; often a low shrub, with numerous spreading stems.Winter-buds: terminal broad-ovoid, acuminate or obtuse, covered with thick orange-colored tomentum, and ⅛′—¼′ long.Barkof the trunk dark brown slightly tinged with red, ¼′ thick and divided by shallow fissures into narrow ridges separating into small thin appressed scales.Woodheavy, hard, close-grained, light brown, with thick lighter colored sapwood of 30—50 layers of annual growth.
Distribution.In the neighborhood of streams; valley of the McElmo River, southwestern Colorado; Carriso Mountains, San Juan County, northwestern New Mexico; northeastern (Apache County), and the Grand Cañon of the Colorado River, Coconino County, Arizona; southern Utah to the Charleston Mountains, southwestern Nevada and adjacent California (Inyo County).
Fig. 742
Leaves7′—12′ long, with an elongated stout terete pale petiole, and 5—7 long-stalked ovate to oblong acute or acuminate leaflets rarely rounded at apex, cuneate or sometimes rounded or subcordate at base, and coarsely serrate with acute incurved teeth, or entire, pilose above and more or less hoary-tomentose below when they unfold, and at maturity thick and firm, 3′—6′ long and 2′—3′ wide, dark green above, paler or sometimes yellow-green and glabrous or pubescent (var.RehderianaSarg.) beneath, particularly along the conspicuous midrib and the numerous arcuate veins connected by obscure reticulate veinlets.Flowersdiœcious, appearing in February and March in short or ultimately elongated panicles inclosed in the bud by chestnut-brown pubescent scales; staminate flower with a minute or nearly obsolete calyx, and 2 or sometimes 4 stamens, with slender filaments and linear apiculate anthers; calyx of the pistillate flower cup-shaped, deeply divided and laciniate, as long as the ovary gradually narrowed into an elongated slender style.Fruitelliptic to oblong-obovate, frequently 3-winged, surrounded at base by the persistent calyx, 2′ long, ⅓′—¾′ wide, often marked on the 2 faces by a conspicuous impressed midvein, the body short, compressed, and surrounded by the broad thin many-nerved sometimes bright violet-colored wing, acute or acuminate, or rounded and emarginate at apex and usually narrowed below into a stalk-like base.
A tree, rarely more than 40° high, with a trunk sometimes 12′ in diameter, small branches forming a narrow often round-topped head, and slender terete branchlets light green and glabrous or tomentose when they first appear, light brown tinged with red and sometimes covered with a glaucous bloom or rarely pubescent or tomentose (var.RehderianaSarg.) in their first winter, becoming in their second year light gray or yellow, occasionally marked by large pale lenticels, and by the elevated semiorbicular leaf-scars displaying a short row of conspicuous fibro-vascular bundle-scars.Winter-buds: terminal, ⅛′ long, with 3 pairs of ovate acute chestnut-brown puberulous scales, those of the outer rank thickened at base, rounded on the back, and shorter than the others.Barkof the trunk1/16′—⅛′ thick, light gray, more or less marked by large irregularly shaped round patches, and separating on the surface into small thin closely appressed scales.Woodlight, soft, weak, close-grained, nearly white sometimes tinged with yellow, with thick lighter colored sapwood.
Distribution.Deep river swamps inundated during several months of the year, usually under the shade of larger trees, or rarely in drier ground; coast region of the Atlantic and Gulf states, valley of the Potomac River, Virginia, near Washington, D.C., to Florida southward to Lake County and on the west coast to the valley of the lower ApalachicolaRiver, and to the valley of the Neches River (Beaumont, Jefferson County), Texas, and northward through western Louisiana to southwestern (Malvern, Hot Springs County) Arkansas; east of the Mississippi River occasionally appearing in isolated stations remote from the coast (Anson County, North Carolina,C. L. Boynton, Pike County, Georgia,R. H. Harper, Forest County, Mississippi,T. G. Harbison); in Cuba.
Fraxinus floridanaSarg.
Fig. 743
Leaves5′—9′ long, with an elongated stout terete petiole, and 3—7, usually 5, elliptic to oblong-obovate or ovate leaflets, acuminate or rarely abruptly pointed at apex, gradually narrowed and rounded at the often unsymmetric base, finely or coarsely serrate, scurfy-pubescent above and hoary-tomentose below when they unfold, and at maturity thick and firm, dark green and glabrous or puberulous on the upper surface and more or less tomentose on the lower surface, 3′—4′ long and 1′—1¼′ wide, with a slender midrib, and thin primary veins arcuate and united within the thickened revolute margins; petiolules of the lateral leaflets ¼′—½′ long, much shorter than those of the terminal leaflet.Flowersdiœcious, appearing late in February or early in March, in elongated panicles inclosed in the bud by chestnut-brown pubescent scales; staminate flower composed of an annular disk and 2 or 3 stamens, with short filaments and apiculate anthers; calyx of the pistillate flower cup-shaped, slightly lobed, as long as the ovary gradually narrowed into the slender style.Fruitoblong to lanceolate or oblanceolate, surrounded at base by the persistent calyx, 1′—2′ long, ¼′—½′ wide, marked on each of the 2 faces by a broad impressed midvein, the body near the base of the many-nerved wing narrowed, rounded, and emarginate at apex.
A tree, 30°—40° high, with a trunk sometimes 12′ in diameter, small spreading branches, and slender terete branchlets light orange-brown and occasionally marked by large pale lenticels during their first season, ashy gray and roughened the following year by the large horizontal obcordate elevated leaf-scars displaying a central ring of fibro-vascular bundle-scars.Winter-budsterminal, broad-ovoid, acute, rusty-pubescent, about ¼′ long.Barkof the trunk1/16′—⅛′ thick, light gray, and broken on the surface into small thin closely appressed scales.
Distribution.Deep swamps; valleys of the St. Mary’s and Flint Rivers (Albany), southern Georgia; Florida, near Jacksonville, Duval County, valley of the Caloosahatchee River, and Bonita Springs, Lee County, to the shores of Lake Okeechobee, and in the valley of the lower Apalachicola River; most abundant in southern Florida.
Fig. 744
Leaves5′—7′ long, with a slender glabrous petiole flattened, or slightly concave on the upper side, and 7—9 ovate to oblong-ovate rarely elliptic leaflets, acute or short-acuminate or rarely rounded at apex, broad-cuneate at base, slightly and irregularly serrate, yellow-green and glabrous above, glaucescent, slightly reticulate, minutely punctulate, glabrous or slightly villose on the slender midrib below, or rarely closely villose over the entire lower surface, 1½′—2½′ long and 1′—2′ wide, with usually 5—7 primary veins, the terminal leaflet raised on a petiolule up to ½′ long, the lateral short-petiolulate, or nearly sessile.Flowersnot seen.Fruitripening in September, on slender pedicels, in glabrous panicles 3′—5′ long, oblong-obovate, acute, rarely obtuse and occasionally emarginate at apex, surrounded at base by the minute calyx deeply divided into acuminate lobes, ¾′—1½′ long and ⅙′—¼′ wide, the wing decurrent nearly to the middle of the subterete or slightly compressed ellipsoid or oblong body.
A tree, sometimes 30° high, usually smaller, with a trunk only a few inches in diameter, and slender terete glabrous branches orange-brown or rarely on vigorous shoots dark red-brown and lustrous.Winter-buds: terminal ovoid, gradually narrowed and acute at apex, ⅓′ long.
Distribution.Mountain cañons at altitudes of 5500°—8000°; New Mexico (Lincoln, Grant and Luna Counties); Arizona (Cochise, Pima and Coconino Counties); on the San José Mountains, Sonora, at an altitude of 7200°; passing into var.lasiaRehd. with branchlets, lower surface of the 7 leaflets and petioles densely tomentose; in Oak Creek and Sycamore cañons south of Flagstaff, Coconino County, at Fort Apache, Navajo County, on the White Mountains, Graham County, and on the Chiricahua Mountains, Cochise County, Arizona; and near Santa Rita, Grant County, New Mexico. A single plant, possibly a shrub, of the MexicanFraxinus papilosaLing. differing chiefly fromF. Standleyiin the glaucous papillose under surface of the leaves, has been seen at an altitude of 6750° on the west sides of the San Luis Mountains, Grant County, New Mexico.
Fig. 745
Leaves8′—12′ long, with a stout grooved petiole, and 5—9, usually 7, ovate to oblanceolate or oval, often falcate abruptly pointed or acuminate leaflets, cuneate or rounded at base, crenulate-serrate or nearly entire, thin but firm, dark green above, pale or light green and glabrous or slightly pubescent below, or rarely thicker, lanceolate, long-acuminate, entire, glabrous and silvery white below (var.crassifoliaSarg.), 3′—5′ long and 1½′—3′ wide, with a broad midrib, and numerous conspicuous veins arcuate near the margins; falling early in the autumn after turning on some individuals deep purple and on others clear bright yellow; petiolules ¼′—½′ or that of the terminal leaflet up to 1′ in length.Flowersdiœcious, opening before the leaves late in the spring, in compact ultimately elongated glabrous panicles from buds covered with dark ovate scales rounded at apex and slightly keeled on the back; calyx campanulate, slightly 4-lobed in the staminate flower, and deeply lobed or laciniately cut in the pistillate flower; stamens 2 or occasionally 3, with short stout filaments, and large oblong-ovate apiculate anthers at first nearly black, later becoming reddish purple; ovary contracted into a long slender style divided into 2 spreading dark purple stigmatic lobes.Fruitrarely deeply tinged with purple (f.iodocarpaFern.), 1′—2½′ long and usually about ¼′ wide, or sometimes not more than ½′ long (var.microcarpaA. Gray), in crowded clusters 6′—8′ in length, lanceolate or oblanceolate, surrounded at base by the persistent calyx, the wing pointed or emarginate at apex and terminal or slightly decurrent on the terete body.
A tree, sometimes 120° high, with a tall massive trunk 5°—6° in diameter, stout upright or spreading branches forming in the forest a narrow crown, or with sufficient space a round-topped or pyramidal head, and thick terete branchlets dark green or brown tinged with red and covered with scattered pale caducous hairs when they first appear, soon becoming light orange color or ashy gray and marked by pale lenticels, becoming in their first winter gray or light brown, lustrous, often covered with a glaucous bloom and roughened by the large pale semiorbicular leaf-scars displaying near the margins a line of conspicuous fibro-vascular bundle-scars.Winter-buds: terminal broad-ovoid, obtuse, with 4 pairs of scales, those of the outer pair ovate, acute, apiculate, conspicuously keeled on the back, nearly black, slightly puberulous, about one half the length of the scales of the second pair rather shorter than those of the third pair, lengthening with the young shoots, and at maturity oblong-ovate, narrowed and rounded at apex, keeled, ½′ long, and rusty-pubescent, the scales of the inner pair becoming ⅔′ long, ovate, pointed, keeled, sometimes slightlypinnatifid, green tinged with brown toward the apex, covered with pellucid dots and very lustrous.Barkof the trunk 1′—3′ thick, dark brown or gray tinged with red, and deeply divided by narrow fissures into broad flattened ridges separating on the surface into thin appressed scales.Woodheavy, hard, strong, close-grained, tough, and brown, with thick lighter colored sapwood; used in large quantities in the manufacture of agricultural implements, for the handles of tools, in carriage-building, for oars and furniture, and in the interior finish of buildings; the most valuable of the American species as a timber-tree.
Distribution.Common in rich rather moist soil on low hills, and in the neighborhood of streams; Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, southern Quebec and Ontario and the southern peninsula of Michigan, and westward and southward to eastern Minnesota, central Iowa, southeastern Nebraska, eastern Kansas, and northern Oklahoma to the valley of the Salt Fork of the Arkansas River in Woods County (near Alva,G. W. Stevens), and to Florida to Taylor County and the valley of the lower Apalachicola River, and through the Gulf states to the valley of the Trinity River, Texas; of its largest size on the bottom-lands of the basin of the lower Ohio River; southward and west of the Mississippi River less common and of smaller size; on the Appalachian Mountains up to altitudes of 3800°; the var.crassifoliaat Mt. Victory, Harding County, Ohio, Campbell, Dunklin County, Missouri, and near Texarkana, Bowie County, Texas.
Often planted in the eastern states as a shade and ornamental tree, and occasionally in western and northern Europe.
A form with the wing of the fruit extending nearly to the middle of the body distinguished asFraxinus SmalliiBritt. has the appearance of a hybrid betweenF. americanaandF. pennsylvanicavar.lanceolata; individuals of this form have been found near McGuire’s Mill, on the Yellow River, Guinnett County, Georgia; near Rochester, Munroe County, New York; and near Lake Wingra, Dane County, Wisconsin.
Fig. 746
Leaves5′—8′ long, with a long slender terete petiole, and 5 or occasionally 7 usually long-stalked ovate broad-oval or obovate leaflets, rounded or acute, or often abruptly pointed at apex, cuneate, rounded or slightly cordate at base, and coarsely crenulate-serrate, chiefly above the middle, light green slightly tinged with red and pilose with occasional pale caducous hairs when they unfold, and at maturity thick and firm, glabrous, dark green on the upper surface, pale on the lower surface, 1′—3′ long and ¾′—2′ wide, and occasionally furnished below with tufts of long white hairs at the base of the broad midrib, andin the axils of the numerous conspicuous veins forked near the margins and connected by coarse reticulate veinlets; petiolules slender, ¼′—½′ and on the terminal leaflet up to 1′ in length.Flowersdiœcious, appearing in March as the leaves begin to unfold, in compact glabrous panicles from the axils of leaves of the previous year, and covered in the bud by ovate rounded orange-colored scales; staminate flower composed of a minute or nearly obsolete 4-lobed calyx and 2 stamens, with short filaments and linear-oblong light purple apiculate anthers; calyx of the female flower deep cup-shaped, and divided to the base into 4 acute lobes; ovary gradually narrowed into a long slender style.Fruitin short compact clusters, spatulate to oblong, surrounded at base by the persistent calyx, ½′—1′ long and ⅛′—¼′ wide, the wing rounded or occasionally emarginate at apex, and terminal on the short terete many-rayed body; very rarely with 3 or 4 wings extending to the base of the fruit.
A tree, rarely 50° high, with a short trunk occasionally 2°—3° in diameter, thick spreading often contorted branches, and stout terete branchlets dark green tinged with red and slightly puberulous when they first appear, becoming light yellow-brown or light orange color during the summer, and in their first winter light brown marked by remote oblong pale lenticels and by large elevated lunate leaf-scars displaying a row of conspicuous fibro-vascular bundle-scars, and dark or reddish brown in their second or third season; usually much smaller.Winter-buds: terminal acute, with 3 pairs of scales, those of the first pair broad-ovate, rounded at the apex, dark orange color, pilose toward the base, and rather shorter than the ovate rounded scales of the second pair coated with rufous tomentum and becoming ½′ long or about one half the length of the linear strap-shaped scales of the inner pair truncate or emarginate at the apex and orange color.Barkof the trunk ½′—¾′ thick, dark gray and deeply divided by narrow fissures into broad scaly ridges.Woodheavy, hard, strong, light brown, with thin lighter colored sapwood; valued as fuel and occasionally used for flooring.
Distribution.Texas, high dry limestone bluffs and ridges, in the neighborhood of Dallas, Dallas County, and Fort Worth, Tarrant County, to the valley of the Colorado River near Austin, Travis County, and over the Edwards Plateau to Bandera, Kerr, Edwards and Palo Pinto Counties.
Hardy in the Arnold Arboretum.
Fig. 747
Leaves10′—12′ long, with a stout pubescent or puberulous petiole, and 7—9 oblong-ovate to ovate-lanceolate or oval often falcate entire or obscurely toothed leaflets acuminate at apex, rounded or cuneate and often inequilateral at base, yellow-bronze color and nearly glabrous above, coated beneath, particularly on the midrib and veins, with long white hairs when they unfold, and at maturity 3′—6′ long, 1½′—2′ wide, thick and firm in texture, dark green and slightly lustrous on the upper surface, pale, or glaucous and puberulous on the lower surface and villose along the slender yellow midrib, and primary veins arcuate near the slightly thickened and incurved margins; petiolules pubescent, ¼′—½′ or that of the terminal leaflet up to 2′ in length.Flowersdiœcious, appearing with the leaves about the 1st of May, in a rather compact pubescent panicle, with scarious caducous bracts and bractlets; staminate flower with a minute cup-shaped very obscurely dentate calyx and nearly sessile oblong acute anthers; calyx of the pistillate flower much larger and deeply lobed; ovary oblong, gradually narrowed into the slender style divided at apex into 2 short stigmatic lobes.Fruitlinear-oblong, in elongated glabrous or puberulous clusters, 1½′—1¾′ long and about ¼′ wide, the wing terminal, only slightly narrowed at the ends, emarginate at apex, and two and a half to three times longer than the short ellipsoid terete many-nerved body.
A tree, 40°—50° high, with a trunk 12′—18′ in diameter, stout ascending or spreading branches forming an open symmetrical head, and stout light or dark gray branchlets soft-pubescent usually during two seasons, much roughened during their first winter and often for two or three years by the large elevated mostly obcordate or sometimes orbicular leaf-scars displaying a marginal line of fibro-vascular bundle-scars.Winter-buds: terminalovoid, usually broader than long, and covered with bright brown scales, those of the outer pair keeled on the back and apiculate at apex, the others rounded, accrescent, and slightly villose.Barkof the trunk rough, dark gray, and slightly furrowed.
Distribution.Banks of streams and on low river benches; western New Jersey (Bordentown, Burlington County); eastern Pennsylvania (Bucks County); near Arlington, Alexandria County, Great Falls, Fairfax County, Woodbridge, Prince William County, and Clifton Forge, Alleghany County, Virginia; near Easton, Monongalia County, West Virginia, and along the Appalachian Mountains up to altitudes of 2200° to northern Georgia; in northern Alabama (St. Bernard, Cullman County), and westward to eastern Kentucky, central Tennessee and through Ohio northward to Erie County; southern Indiana and Illinois (Richland County), to southeastern Missouri (Campbell, Dunklin County).
Fig. 748
Leaves9′—18′ long, with a stout tomentose petiole, and usually 7 but occasionally 9 lanceolate or elliptic entire or slightly serrate leaflets acuminate or abruptly long-pointed at apex, rounded, cuneate and often unsymmetric at base, coated below when they unfold with hoary tomentum, and pilose on the upper surface with short pale hairs, particularly on the midrib and veins, and at maturity thick and firm in texture, dark yellow-green and nearly glabrous on the upper surface, soft-pubescent on the lower surface, 5′—10′ long and 1½′—5′ wide, with a stout yellow midrib deeply impressed and puberulous above and numerous slender primary veins; petiolules stout, tomentose early in the season, usually becoming glabrous or nearly glabrous, ¼′—½′ or that of the terminal leaflet up to 2′ in length.Flowersdiœcious, in elongated much-branched pubescent panicles, with oblong or oblong-obovate scarious bracts and bractlets; staminate flower with a minute campanulate obscurely 4-toothed calyx, and 2 or 3 stamens, with comparatively long slender filaments and oblong apiculate anthers; pistillate flower with a large deeply lobed calyx accrescent and persistent under the fruit, and an ovary gradually contracted into a slender style.Fruitin long drooping many-fruited pubescent clusters, oblong, 2′—3′ in length and often ½′ wide, the wing sometimes falcate, rounded, apiculate, or emarginate at apex, and decurrent to below the middle or nearly to the base of the thick terete many-rayed body.
A tree, occasionally 120° high, with a slender trunk 3° in diameter above the much enlarged and buttressed base, small spreading branches forming a narrow rather open head, and stout branchlets marked by large pale lenticels, coated at first with hoary tomentum, tomentose and pubescent during their first winter and light gray and pilose or glabrous thefollowing year, and marked by the oblong slightly raised obconic leaf-scars nearly surrounding the lateral buds; usually much smaller.Winter-budsterminal, broad-ovate, obtuse, light reddish brown, and covered with close pale pubescence.Barkof the trunk ½′—¾′ thick, light gray and divided by shallow fissures into broad flat or rounded ridges broken on the surface into thin closely appressed scales.
Distribution.Deep river swamps often inundated during several months of the year; western New York (H. F. Sartwell); southern Indiana and Illinois; western Kentucky (Caldwell and McCracken Counties) and Tennessee (Henderson County); southeastern Missouri, eastern Arkansas (Moark and Corning, Clay County, and Varner, Lincoln County); near New Orleans, Louisiana, eastern Mississippi (near Columbus, Lowndes County), and in the valley of the lower Apalachicola River, western Florida.
Occasionally cultivated; hardy in the Arnold Arboretum.
Fig. 749
Leaves10′—12′ long, with a stout slightly grooved pubescent petiole, and 7—9 oblong-lanceolate, ovate-elliptic or slightly obovate leaflets gradually narrowed at apex into a long slender point, unequally cuneate at base, and obscurely serrate, or often entire below the middle, when they unfold coated below and on the petiole with hoary tomentum, and lustrous and puberulous on the upper surface, and at maturity thin and firm, 4′—6′ long, 1′—1½′ wide, light yellow-green above and pale and covered below with silky pubescence, with a conspicuous midrib and branching veins; in the autumn turning yellow or rusty brown before falling; petiolules thick, grooved, pubescent, ⅛′—¼′ or that of the terminal leaflet up to 1′ in length.Flowersdiœcious, appearing late in spring as the leaves begin to unfold, in a rather compact tomentose panicle, covered in the bud with ovate rusty-tomentose scales; staminate flower with a minute obscurely toothed cup-shaped calyx, and 2 stamens, with short slender filaments and linear-oblong light green anthers tinged with purple; calyx of the pistillate flower cup-shaped, deeply divided, as long as the ovary gradually narrowed into an elongated style divided at apex into 2 green stigmatic lobes.Fruitin an open glabrous or pubescent panicle, lanceolate to slightly oblanceolate or oblong-obovate or elliptic, 1′—2½′ long, ¼′—⅓′ wide, surrounded at base by the persistent calyx, the thin wing narrowed, rounded and occasionally emarginate or acute or acuminate and often apiculate at apex, decurrent to below the middle or nearly to the gradually tapering base of the slender terete many-rayed body.
A tree, 40°—60° high, with a trunk rarely exceeding 18′—20′ in diameter, stout uprightbranches forming a compact irregularly shaped head, and slender terete branchlets more or less coated when they first appear with pale tomentum sometimes persistent until their second or third year or often disappearing during the first summer, ultimately becoming ashy gray or light brown tinged with red, frequently covered with a glaucous bloom and marked by pale lenticels, and in their first winter by the semicircular leaf-scars displaying a short row of large fibro-vascular bundle-scars.Winter-buds: terminal, about ⅛′ long, with 3 pairs of scales coated with rufous tomentum, those of the outer pair acute, rounded on the back, truncate at apex, and rather shorter than those of the other pairs 1′—1½′ long at maturity and sometimes pinnately cut toward the apex.Barkof the trunk ½′—⅔′ thick, brown tinged with red, and slightly furrowed, the surface of the ridges separating into thin appressed scales.Woodheavy, hard, rather strong, brittle, coarse-grained, light brown, with thick lighter brown sapwood streaked with yellow; sometimes confounded commercially with the more valuable wood of the White Ash. Variable in the length of the petiolules and in the shape of the fruit and the width of its wing; a form with short-stalked or nearly sessile leaflets, found chiefly in Nebraska has been described asF. campestrisBritt. and a form with the wing of the spatulate fruit sometimes ¼′ wide asF. MichauxiiBritt.
Distribution.Low rich moist soil near the banks of streams and lakes; Nova Scotia to Manitoba, and southward to central Georgia, northern Alabama (St. Bernard, Cullman County, and Attalla, Etowah County), northeastern Mississippi (Tishomingo County), southern Indiana and Illinois, northern Missouri, eastern Kansas and southwestern Oklahoma (Cache, Comanche County); usually confined in the Carolinas to the Piedmont region and foothills of the high mountains. Passing into
Fig. 750
Leaveswith rather narrower and shorter and usually more sharply serrate leaflets lustrous and bright green on both surfaces, and glabrous or pubescent along the midrib below.
A round-topped tree, rarely more than 60° high, or with a trunk more than 2° in diameter, slender spreading branches, ashy gray terete glabrous branchlets marked by pale lenticels, and rusty-pubescent bud-scales.
Distribution.Banks of streams; valley of the Penobscot River (Orono, Penobscot County), Maine, to northern Vermont and the valley of the St. Lawrence River, near Montreal, Province of Quebec, and to the valley of the Saskatchewan (Saskatoon, Saskatchewan), and in the United States westward to North Dakota, eastern Wyoming to the base of the Bighorn Mountains, and on the mountains of northern Montana, and southwardto western Florida to the valley of the lower Apalachicola River, Dallas County, Alabama, central Mississippi, Louisiana, Oklahoma to Comanche County, and Texas to the valley of the Guadalupe River; most abundant in the basin of the Mississippi River; attaining its largest size on the rich bottom-lands of eastern Texas and here often 60°—70° high, with a trunk 2°—3° in diameter; on the southern Appalachian Mountains ascending to altitudes of 2000°—2500°. As it usually grows in the east with its bright green glabrous leaves and glabrous branchlets the Green Ash appears distinct from the Red Ash, but trees occur over the area which it inhabits, but more often westward, with slightly pubescent leaves and branchlets which may be referred as well to one tree as to the other and make it impossible to distinguish satisfactorily as species the Green and Red Ash.
Often planted as a shade and ornamental tree in the middle western and occasionally in the eastern states, but less valuable than the White Ash.
Fig. 751
Leaves3′—7′ long, with a slender petiole, and 3—5 lanceolate, elliptic or obovate leaflets, acuminate or abruptly acuminate or acute at apex, cuneate or rarely rounded at base,mostly entire or remotely serrate, thin, dark green and glabrous on the upper surface, rather paler and glabrous or furnished with small axillary tufts of white hairs on the lower surface, 3′—4′ long and ½′—1½′ wide; petiolules slender, 1¼′—1⅓′ or that of the terminal leaflet up to 1½′ in length.Flowersdiœcious, in a short glabrous panicle inclosed in the bud by broad-ovate rounded chestnut-brown pubescent scales; staminate flower with a minute obscurely lobed calyx and 2 stamens, with short filaments and linear-oblong apiculate anthers; calyx of the pistillate flower cup-shaped, deeply divided, and as long as the ovary gradually narrowed into the slender style.Fruitripening in May, oblong-obovate to spatulate, acute or acuminate at apex, 1′—1½′ long and ¼′ wide, the wing decurrent nearly to the base of the compressed many-rayed clavate body gradually narrowed into a long slender base surrounded by the enlarged deeply lobed calyx.
A tree, rarely more than 30° high, or with a trunk more than a foot in diameter, and terete slender branchlets light green when they first appear, becoming in their first winter light brown tinged with red or ashy gray, and marked by occasional lenticels and by the small elevated nearly circular leaf-scars displaying a short row of large fibro-vascular bundle-scars.Winter-buds: terminal acute, with dark brown puberulous scales.Barkof the trunk dark gray tinged with red, 1′—1½′ thick, and divided by shallow interrupted fissures into narrow ridges.Woodlight, soft, close-grained, light brown, with thick lighter colored sapwood.
Distribution.Texas, banks of streams and mountain cañons, valley of the Colorado River (Bastrop and Travis Counties), and those of the San Antonio and Nueces Rivers to the lower Rio Grande, and over the Edwards Plateau to Palo Pinto County; in northeastern Mexico.
Fig. 752
Leaves4′—5′ long, with a broad densely villose petiole grooved like the slender rachis on the upper side, and 3—5 elliptic to ovate or slightly obovate leaflets acute at apex, narrowed and rounded or cuneate at base, finely crenulate-serrate above the middle, pubescent above and tomentose below when they unfold, and at maturity thick, pale green, glabrous on the upper surface, tomentose on the lower surface, 1′—1½′ long and ¾′—1′ wide, with a prominent midrib and primary veins, and conspicuous reticulate veinlets; petiolules of the lateral leaflets ⅙′ or less or that of the terminal leaflet up to ½′ in length.Flowersdiœcious, appearing in March and April with the unfolding of the leaves, on long slender pedicels inelongated pubescent panicles, covered in the bud by broad-ovate tomentose scales rounded at apex; calyx cup-shaped, densely pubescent; stamens, with short slender filaments and oblong apiculate anthers; ovary nearly inclosed in the calyx, shorter than the nearly sessile lobes of the stigma.Fruitripening in September, on slender villose pedicels, in large many-fruited clusters, oblong-obovate to elliptic, surrounded at base by the enlarged deeply divided calyx, rarely more than ¾′ long and ⅙′ wide, the wing terminal, rounded and often emarginate or acute at apex, shorter than the terete many-rayed clavate body attenuate at base and5/12′—½′ in length.
A slender tree, 25°—30°, rarely 40°—50° high, with a trunk 12′—18′ in diameter, stout often spreading branches forming a round-topped head, and slender terete branchlets coated during their first season with hoary tomentum, and ashy gray, glabrous and marked by large obcordate dark leaf-scars in their second year.Winter-buds: terminal acute, ⅛′ long, with 3 pairs of broad-ovate pointed tomentose scales, those of the inner pair strap-shaped and ½′ long when fully grown.Barkof the trunk ⅓′—½′ thick, gray slightly tinged with red, and deeply divided into broad flat broken ridges separating on the surface into small thin scales.Woodheavy, rather soft, not strong, close-grained, light brown, with thick lighter colored sapwood; used locally for axe-handles and in the manufacture of wagons.
Distribution.Mountain cañons up to altitudes of 6000°, central and southern Arizona and southern New Mexico. Passing into the following varieties: var.coriaceaRehd. (Fraxinus coriaceaS. Wats.) differing in its thicker more coriaceous often more coarsely serrate leaflets and in the less densely pubescent or glabrescent branchlets; southern Utah (St. George, Washington County) to southeastern California; var.glabraRehd. with glabrous 3—7-foliolate leaves and glabrous branchlets; common with the species; occasionally cultivated in the cities of Arizona; more distinct is
Fraxinus ToumeyiBritt.
Fig. 753
Leaves3½′—6′ long, with a villose-pubescent petiole, and 5—7 lanceolate to elliptic or rarely obovate acuminate and long-pointed or acute leaflets, finely serrate above the middle, glabrous on the upper surface, covered on the lower surface with close fine pubescence, 1½′—3′ long and ½′—1′ wide; petiolules slender, pubescent, ⅛′—½′ or that of the terminal leaflet up to 1′ in length; occasionally on vigorous shoots reduced to a single leaflet.Flowersas in the species.Fruitnarrow-oblong, 1′ long and often not more than1/12′ wide, or spatulatewith the wing longer or shorter than the body, and sometimes only about ¾′ long and1/16′ wide, with the wing longer or not more than half the length of the body.
A tree, usually 20°—30° high, with a trunk 6′—8′ in diameter, and ashy gray branchlets pale pubescent when they first appear, becoming glabrous or puberulous during their second season.
Distribution.Mountain cañons at altitudes of 5000°—6000°; in Arizona more common thanF. velutina; less abundant in southern New Mexico; in Sonora.
Often used to shade the streets in the towns of southern Arizona.