The WOOD is light, soft, strong, close-grained, and light brown, with thick, lighter-colored [sapwood]. It is not of commercial importance.
CAROLINA ASH (Water Ash)
Fraxinus caroliniana Mill.
Water ash is common in shaded swamps, westward to the valley of the Neches River. It forms a tree, rarely more than 40 feet high, with a trunk sometimes 12 inches in diameter, and has small branches, making a narrow, often round-topped head.
CAROLINA ASH (Leaflet and [fruit], three-fourths natural size; leaf, one-fourth natural size)
The [BARK] is thin, light gray, and marked by large irregularly shaped round patches which separate into small, thin, close [scales].
The LEAVES are compounded, 7 to 12 inches long, thick and firm when mature, with 5 to 7, [ovate] to [oblong], finely to coarsely toothed [leaflets], 3 to 6 inches long, 2 to 3 inches wide, dark green above, and paler below.
The small male and female FLOWERS appear on separate trees, in February or March. The [FRUIT] is elliptic to oblong-ovate, frequently three-winged, 2 inches long, ⅓ to ¾ inch wide. The wing extends below the body of the fruit and narrows into a stipitate (stalk-like) base.
The WOOD is light, soft, weak, close-grained, nearly white, sometimes yellowish, with thick, lighter-colored [sapwood]. It is used chiefly for fuel.