Part 27

Habitat: Bottomland forests.

Range: Maine across to Saskatchewan and Minnesota, south to Texas, east to Florida.

Distinguishing Features: The Green Ash has leaflets which are green on both surfaces.

BLUE ASH Fraxinus quadrangulata Michx.

Other Name: Square-stemmed Ash.

Growth Form: Moderate tree to seventy feet tall; trunk diameter up to 3 feet; crown irregular, with many short, sturdy branches.

Bark: Gray, scaly, without diamond-shaped furrows.

Twigs: Stout, square, gray or brown, smooth; leaf scars half-round and concave across the top, with several bundle traces forming a half-moon.

Buds: Rounded, gray, finely hairy, up to one-half inch long.

Leaves: Opposite, pinnately compound, with 5-11 leaflets; leaflets lance-shaped, long-pointed at the tip tapering to the sometimes asymmetrical base, up to 6 inches long, less than half as wide, coarsely toothed along the edges, yellowish-green and smooth on the upper surface, paler and usually with tufts of hairs along the veins on the lower surface. The leaflets turn yellow in the autumn.

Flowers: Small, in branched clusters, appearing as the leaves begin to unfold, purplish, without any petals.

Fruit: Oblong, winged fruits, notched at the tip, up to 2 inches long and one-half inch broad, with a single seed near the bottom.

Wood: Hard, heavy, yellow-brown.

Uses: Flooring; the inner bark produces a blue dye when placed in water.

Habitat: Wooded slopes, limestone cliffs.

Range: Western Pennsylvania across Wisconsin to Iowa, south to Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Alabama; southern Ontario.

Distinguishing Features: The square stems immediately distinguish this tree from any other ash in Illinois.

PUMPKIN ASH Fraxinus tomentosa Michx. f.

Growth Form: Large tree sometimes nearly 100 feet tall; trunk diameter up to 3 feet; crown broadly rounded, with stout spreading branches.

Bark: Gray, becoming scaly.

Twigs: Stout, gray or brown, usually velvety; leaf scars opposite, horseshoe-shaped, with several bundle traces arranged in a half-moon.

Buds: More or less conical, brown, hairy, about one-fourth inch long.

Leaves: Opposite, compound, with 7-9 leaflets; leaflets lance-shaped to elliptic, pointed at the tip, rounded or tapering at the slightly asymmetrical base, up to 10 inches long and about half as wide, smooth or finely toothed along the edges, yellow-green and smooth on the upper surface, paler and velvety-hairy on the lower surface. The leaves turn yellow in the autumn.

Flowers: Staminate and pistillate flowers borne on separate trees, in elongated clusters, appearing before the leaves, small, greenish-purple, without any petals.

Fruit: Oblong, winged fruits, usually rounded at the tip, up to 3 inches long and one-half inch broad, with a single seed near the bottom.

Wood: Heavy, strong, hard, close-grained, brown.

Uses: Boxes, paper pulp, fuel.

Habitat: Floodplains, swamps.