Studies of trees in winter

by Annie Oakes Huntington

SYCAMORE MAPLE
Acer pseudo-platanus

Page [30]

Chapter IV
THE ASHES

1. Red Ash. 2. White Ash. 3. Black Ash. 4. European Ash.

Chapter IV
THE ASHES

Family Oleaceæ

In winter there is little to attract us in ash trees beyond a certain bold strength of trunk and limb. There is no grace or delicacy whatever in the branches, the twigs are coarsely moulded, and the buds are thick and leathery. The popular prejudice existing against ash trees in summer, when the contrast of their light foliage and heavy trunks makes it less deserved, is fully warranted in winter; but if the ash is ugly, the wood of few trees is as generally useful, and its literary history dates back to the “Odyssey” and to the Eddas of Norse mythology.

The generic name, Fraxinus, comes from the Latin phraxis (separation), and probably alludes to the wood of the European species which splits easily. There are about fifteen different species in the United States, three of which are found commonly in New England. The green ash, which used to be considered a distinct species, is now thought to be a variety of the red ash.

All the ashes have opposite leaf-scars.