The trees whose leaves are set opposite upon the twigs are few in the
American woods compared with those whose leaves alternate. The maples
have the opposite arrangement of leaves; so have the dogwoods. These
trees have simple leaves. The horse chestnuts and buckeyes have their
leaves set opposite, and these leaves are compound: five or seven
leaflets rise from the end of the stout leaf stem. The ash family is
another large group of trees, with leaves set opposite on the twigs.
These leaves are compound, but of a different pattern from those of the
horse chestnut. The leaf stem has the leaflets arranged in pairs along
its sides. This is the feather type of compound leaf, seen in the locust
family, and among walnuts and hickories.
Ash trees are recognised by their opposite compound leaves. There is
another sign: the fruit has a dry seed, pointed and winged like a dart.
There is no other seed exactly like those of the ash. The seed clusters
hang on the bare twigs, far into winter. The twigs are stout, and set in
pairs on the branches. The trees grow large, and their tops are regular
and handsome. The bark is close, broken by shallow fissures into small,
often diamond-shaped plates.
Our common ash trees are distinguished by colour, as the names indicate.
A few well-marked differences are shown by the species, which are often
found growing together in mixed woods.
The white ash is a tall, handsome, stately tree, with a trunk like a grey
granite column. The white in its name is from the pale leaf linings, that
illuminate the tree top in summer. The twigs are pale, and the bark is
often as pale grey as that of a white oak. The slender, dart-like seeds
are one to two inches long, with a wing which is twice the length of the
round, tapering seed. They hang in thick clusters, paler green than the
leaves, and often flushed with a rosy tinge in late summer. All winter
the wind harvests the crop of seeds, and plants young white ashes
wherever the darts fall on good ground.
The black ash is a slender, upright tree, with narrow head and stout
twigs. The plump, leathery buds on the winter twigs are almost black, and
the bark is a very dark grey. The foliage in summer is much darker green
than that of any other ash, so the name is earned by buds, bark, and
leaves. The seeds are flat and short, and the wing is broad and short,
and deeply notched. A black ash leaf has all its leaflets stemless except
the one at the tip. The white ash has a much fleecier foliage than that
of the black, because each leaflet has a stem of its own.
The wood of the black ash splits readily into thin sheets, each
representing the growth of a single year. The Indians taught the white
men to make baskets out of black ash splints. They cut the tree down,
sawed the log into the lengths required, split the blocks into pieces as
wide as the splints should be. These sticks were bent over a board, and
the strain separated the bands of dense, tough wood into the thin strips
just right for basket weaving.
The red ash is a small, spreading tree, with a close head, slender
branches, and crowded twigs. Its bark is reddish, closely furrowed, and
scaly. The young twigs are covered with soft hairs. The leaves are a
shiny yellow-green above, often a foot long, made of seven to nine
slender leaflets, whose stems and veins have a silky down, that remains
all summer.
Red ash seeds are extremely slender and long, and they hang on hairy
stems.
The green ash has dark, lustrous foliage, the leaf lining green, like its
upper surface. The bark is grey, and closely checked, and the twigs are
smooth and slender.
This is the ash tree which grows in the regions of scant rainfall; in
Utah, Arizona, and Texas. In the East it is found from Virginia to
Florida. It is one of the beautiful shade trees in the regions where few
trees grow well. East of the Alleghenies it is but one among many ash
trees, and is little noticed; but in the far West, and on the treeless
plains of Nebraska and Dakota, it is a far handsomer tree than its
companions, the willows and the cottonwoods.
[Illustration: Fruits, leaves and flowers of basswood tree, called also
linden]
[Illustration: Chestnut trees blossom in July, and the nuts drop after
the first severe frost]
The blue ash is common on the rich river lands along the principal
tributaries of the Mississippi. Some of the finest specimens grow on the
limestone hills of the Smoky Mountains. It is a tall, graceful,
grey-stemmed ash. We shall know it anywhere as an ash tree by its
opposite twigs and leaves, and by its dart-like fruits. It differs from
all other ash trees in having four-angled twigs. The tree has a kind of
blue dye in its inner bark. Cut out a piece and put it in water, and it
is as if you had added a few grains of indigo.
The blue ash ranks high as a shade tree, and its wood is quite the equal
of white ash. It is used for vehicles, for flooring, and for tool
handles. It is especially desired for pitchfork handles.
The native ash of Europe is a large timber tree, whose range extends
through Asia Minor. The wood of this tree had a wonderful reputation for
general usefulness. Its tough, thin inner bark was used to write on
before paper was invented. The wood was used for lances and spears, for
bows, pikes, and shields by the soldiers, during ancient times. Every
tool, vehicle, and implement of the farmer and mechanic were made of this
wood. “Every prudent lord of a manor should employ one acre of ground
with ash to every twenty acres of other land. In as many years it would
be worth more than the land itself.”
The seeds of ash trees were used for fattening pigs. They were also used
as remedies for many diseases. They were called birds’ tongues, from
their shape, and every apothecary kept a stock of them. Ash wood makes
the best of fuel, and its ashes, rich in potash, make a splendid
fertiliser, especially in orchards.
One warning the old English rhyme offers regarding this tree. It is
supposed to attract lightning. Oaks have the same reputation. On the
other hand, tradition holds that a beech tree is never struck by
lightning. There is opportunity, where these trees grow, and where
thunderstorms are frequent, to notice how true are the popular beliefs.
Have you ever been warned by this old rhyme?
“Beware of the oak, it draws the stroke;
Avoid the ash, it courts the flash;
Creep under the thorn—it will save you from harm.”