Fraxinus
americana Linnaeus var. americana
Common
names: white ash, American ash.
Synonyms: Fraxinus americana Linnaeus, Fraxinus americana
Linnaeus var. biltmoreana (Beadle) J. Wright ex Fernald, Fraxinus
americana Linnaeus var. crassifolia Sargent, Fraxinus
americana Linnaeus var. curtissii (Vasey) Small, Fraxinus
americana Linnaeus var. juglandifolia (Lamarck) Rehder,
Fraxinus americana Linnaeus var. microcarpa Gray, Fraxinus
biltmoreana Beadle.
Family: Oleaceae.
Brief
description:
Ashes have opposite, compound leaves. If you play baseball and can
avoid using only aluminum bats, white ash wood will be familiar to
you, because it is the traditionally prized light colored wood of
baseball bats since it is light weight but strong, bendable but not
fragile. The small flowers produce a winged fruit--narrow with a wing
shaped like a narrow canoe paddle on one end. These wings make the
fruits twirl to the ground like minature hellicopters--they keep the
fruit aloft longer, allowing it to move farther from the parent tree.
The leaves turn yellow to a deep maroon or purple in the fall.
USDA
Profile
Herbarium
sheet images:
Live
specimen images:
• Individual
leaf • Branchlet
with buds • Close-up
of buds • Close-up
of leaf scar •
