Part 109

Flowers with a corolla, in terminal panicles on lateral leafy branchlets of the year; leaflets 3—7, lanceolate to ovate-lanceolate (Ornus). 1. F. cuspidata (E, H). Flowers without a corolla, diœcious or polygamous, in axillary panicles, from separate buds, in the axils of leaves of the previous year (Fraxinastrum). Flowers with a calyx. Leaflets with obscure veins, not more than ¾′ long; fruit narrow-spatulate to oblong-obovate; rachis slightly winged. 2. F. Greggii (E). Leaflets with distinct veins, more than ¾′ long; rachis without a wing. Body of the fruit compressed, its wing extending to the base. Branchlets 4-sided. Leaves usually 5-foliolate, with ovate acute leaflets; flowers unknown. 3. F. Lowellii (F). Leaves usually reduced to a single ovate or orbicular leaflet; flowers polygamous. 4. F. anomala (F). Branchlets terete. Leaflets 5—7, oblong-ovate; fruit oblong-elliptic to spatulate, often 3-winged, long-stipitate. 5. F. caroliniana (A, C). Leaflets 3—5, oblong; fruit lanceolate to oblanceolate, the body extending to the base of the fruit. 6. F. pauciflora (C). Body of the fruit nearly terete. Wing of the fruit terminal or slightly decurrent on the body. Leaves and branchlets glabrous (_tomentose in one form of 7_). Leaflets sessile or nearly sessile 5—7 rarely 5, ovate to oblong-ovate, rarely elliptic, acute or short-acuminate, glaucescent below. 7. F. Standleyi (H). Leaflets stalked. Leaflets 5—7, ovate to lanceolate, abruptly pointed or acuminate, usually pale below. 8. F. americana (A, C). Leaflets usually 5, ovate to obovate, rounded or acute at apex. 9. F. texensis (C). Leaves and branches pubescent; leaflets oblong-ovate to lanceolate, pale below; fruit linear-oblong. 10. F. biltmoreana (A, C). Wing of the fruit decurrent to below the middle of the body. Leaflets 7—9, usually 7; leaves and branches pubescent (_glabrous in one form of 12_). Fruit 2′—3′ in length. 11. F. profunda (A, C). Fruit 1′—2½′ in length. 12. F. pennsylvanica (A, E). Leaflets 3—5. Leaves and branchlets glabrous; fruit up to 1½′ in length. 13. F. Berlandieriana (C, E). Leaves and branchlets pubescent or glabrous; fruit not more than ½′ in length. 14. F. velutina (F, H). Leaflets 5—7, usually 7, the lateral generally sessile; leaves and branchlets pilose-pubescent, rarely glabrous. 15. F. oregona (B, G). Flowers without a calyx; leaflets 5—11; wing of the fruit decurrent to the base of the body. Branchlets quadrangular; lateral leaflets short-stalked. 16. F. quadrangulata (A, C). Branchlets terete; lateral leaflets sessile. 17. F. nigra (A, C).

1. Fraxinus cuspidata Torr.

Leaves 5′—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. _serrata_ Rehd.), 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. _macropetala_ Rehd.); 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. Flowers perfect, 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. Fruit elliptic 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 scattered pale 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. _macropetala_ in cañons of northern Arizona; the var. _serrata_ (fig. 738) in Coahuila.

2. Fraxinus Greggii A. Gray.

Leaves 1½′—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. Flowers perfect or unisexual, on slender pedicels ⅛′—¼′ long, from the axils 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. Fruit narrow-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. Bark of the trunk thin, gray or light brown tinged with red, separating on the surface into large papery scales. Wood heavy, 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.

3. Fraxinus Lowellii Sarg.

Leaves 3½′—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. Flowers unknown. Fruit ripening 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.

4. Fraxinus anomala S. Wats.

Leaves mostly 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. Flowers appearing 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. Fruit obovate, 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. Bark of the trunk dark brown slightly tinged with red, ¼′ thick and divided by shallow fissures into narrow ridges separating into small thin appressed scales. Wood heavy, 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).

5. Fraxinus caroliniana Mill. Water Ash. Swamp Ash.

Leaves 7′—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. _Rehderiana_ Sarg.) beneath, particularly along the conspicuous midrib and the numerous arcuate veins connected by obscure reticulate veinlets. Flowers diœcious, 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. Fruit elliptic 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. _Rehderiana_ Sarg.) 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. Bark of the trunk 1/16′—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. Wood light, 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 Apalachicola River, 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.

6. Fraxinus pauciflora Nutt. Water Ash.

_Fraxinus floridana_ Sarg.

Leaves 5′—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. Flowers diœcious, 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. Fruit oblong 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-buds terminal, broad-ovoid, acute, rusty-pubescent, about ¼′ long. Bark of the trunk 1/16′—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.

7. Fraxinus Standleyi Rehd.

Leaves 5′—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. Flowers not seen. Fruit ripening 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. _lasia_ Rehd. 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 Mexican _Fraxinus papilosa_ Ling. differing chiefly from _F. Standleyi_ in 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.

8. Fraxinus americana L. White Ash.

Leaves 8′—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. _crassifolia_ Sarg.), 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. Flowers diœcious, 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. Fruit rarely deeply tinged with purple (f. _iodocarpa_ Fern.), 1′—2½′ long and usually about ¼′ wide, or sometimes not more than ½′ long (var. _microcarpa_ A. 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 slightly pinnatifid, green tinged with brown toward the apex, covered with pellucid dots and very lustrous. Bark of 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. Wood heavy, 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.