New Brunswick to Manitoba.
Maine,—infrequent; New Hampshire,—occasional, extending as far north as Boscawen in the Merrimac valley; Vermont,—common along Lake Champlain and its tributaries (Flora of Vermont, 1900); occasional in other sections; Massachusetts and Rhode Island,—sparingly scattered throughout; Connecticut,—reported from East Hartford, Westville, Canaan, and Lisbon (J. N. Bishop).
South to Florida and Alabama; west to Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, and Missouri.
Habit.—Medium-sized to large tree, 30-70 feet high, with trunk 1-3 feet in diameter; erect, branches spreading, broad-headed; in general appearance resembling the white ash.
Bark.—Trunk dark gray or brown, smooth in young trees, furrowed in old, furrows rather shallower than in the white ash; branches grayish; young shoots greenish-gray with a rusty-velvety or scurfy pubescence lasting often into the second year.
Winter Buds and Leaves.—Buds rounded, dark reddish-brown, more or less downy, smaller than those of the white ash, partially covered by the swollen petiole. Leaves pinnately compound, opposite, 9-15 inches long; petiole short, downy, enlarged at base; leaflets 7-9, opposite, 3-5 inches long, about one half as wide, light green and smooth above, paler and more or less downy beneath; outline extremely variable, ovate, narrow-oblong, elliptical or sometimes obovate, entire or slightly toothed; apex acute to acuminate; base acute or rounded; leaflet stalks short, grooved, downy; stipules and stipels none.
Inflorescence.—May. Similar to that of the white ash.
Fruit.—Ripening in early fall, and hanging in clusters into the winter; samara or key about 1½ inches long; body of the fruit narrowly cylindrical, the edges gradually widening from about the center into linear or spatulate wings, obtuse or rounded at the ends, sometimes mucronate.
Horticultural Value.—Hardy throughout New England; grows readily in any good soil, but prefers a wet or moist, rich loam; almost as rapid growing when young as the white ash, and is not seriously affected by insects or fungous diseases; worthy of a place in landscape plantations and on streets, but not often found in nurseries; propagated from seed.