Grows on borders of streams and swamps in low ground. Often confused with and substituted for the more valuable white ash. Pubescens is in allusion to the downy covering of the new twigs (those of white ash usually smooth). Pennsylvanica refers to locality in which it is well developed. [p031]
Blue Ash. Fraxinus quadrangulata Michx.
Nomenclature. (Sudworth.)
Blue Ash (Mich., Ill., Ky., Mo., Ala.).
Locality.
Central States, Mississippi Valley, Michigan, and southward, cultivated in Pennsylvania. Best in low Wabash Valley.
Features of Tree.
Fifty to seventy-five feet in height, occasionally higher, one to two feet in diameter. Slender. Blue properties in inner bark, smooth square twigs.
Color, Appearance, or Grain of Wood.
Heartwood light yellow, streaked with brown, sapwood lighter, close-grained, compact structure satiny.