FRAXINUS ANOMALA, Utah Ash
- Fraxinus anomala, Watson, King’s Rep. v. 283 (1871); Sargent, Silva N. Amer. vi. 39, t. 266 (1894), and Trees N. America, 765 (1905).
A small tree, attaining about 20 feet in height, with bark shallowly fissured by narrow ridges. Branchlets quadrangular, slightly four-winged, glabrous, with in- conspicuous reddish lenticels. Leaves (Plate 262, Fig. 7) simple (occasionally two- to three-foliolate), ovate or obovate, acute or rounded at the apex, base cuneate or cordate, slightly crenulate or entire in margin, glabrous beneath. Petiole flattened and grooved above, about half the length of the blade of the leaf.
Flowers (section Leptalix) in panicles from the axils of the leaf-scars of the preceding year’s shoot, with a calyx, but corolla absent. Fruit oblong, with a rounded wing surrounding the long, flattened, striately nerved body.
This curious tree, so remarkable amongst the ashes, in its usually simple leaves and quadrangular stems, occurs in Colorado, Utah, and Nevada.
It is in cultivation at Kew, where it is perfectly hardy, and is worthy of a place in collections on account of its peculiarities. (A.H.)
FRAXINUS QUADRANGULATA, Blue Ash
- Fraxinus quadrangulata, Michaux, Fl. Bor. Am. ii. 2 55 (1803); Loudon, Arb. et Frut. Brit. ii. 1235 (1838); Sargent, Silva N. Amer. vi. 35, t. 263 (1894), and Trees N. Amer. 761 (1905).
A large tree, attaining 120 feet in height and 9 feet in girth. Bark separating irregularly into large thin plates. Branchlets glabrous, stout, quadrangular; with four wings between the nodes, persisting and becoming corky in the second year; lenticels white. Leaflets (Plate 265, Fig. 22), five to nine, 3 to 5 inches long; on pubescent stalklets, ⅛ to ¼ inch long; ovate or oval, rounded or broadly cuneate at the base, acuminate at the apex, regularly serrate, glabrous above; under surface covered with scattered whitish tomentum, densest towards the base. Leaf-rachis pubescent, with a shallow open channel on its upper side.
Flowers (section Leptalix) in panicles from the axils of the leaf-scars of the previous year's shoot, perfect, calyx obsolete, corolla absent, Fruit oblong ; body long, flat, with numerous faint rays, surrounded by the base of the broad wing, which is emarginate at the apex.
This species is readily distinguished from all the other species with numerous leaflets by the conspicuous wings on the branchlets. (A.H.)
The blue ash though little known outside of botanic gardens in Europe is, next to the white ash, the largest of its genus found in the United States, It is unknown in New England or Canada, though hardy at Ottawa, where I saw it in the
