Green Ash
Fraxinus pennsylvanica Marsh.

Also known as Red Ash or Swamp Ash.

Mature Size: 60 to 70 feet in height and 1½ feet in diameter.

Form: Medium-sized tree with an irregular or rounded crown.

Habitat: Moist river bottoms and stream banks.

Leaves

Opposite, pinnately compound, 6 to 9 inches long, with 7 to 9 toothed, elliptical to lance-shaped leaflets, green above and smooth to slightly fuzzy below.

Flowers

Males and females usually on separate trees; light green to purplish, lacking petals, females in long, loose clusters, males in tighter clusters, appearing after the leaves unfold.

Fruit

1 to 2½ inches long, narrow, flat and winged, with the wing portion extending well past the middle of the seed-bearing part.

Bark

Ashy gray to brown, with interlacing corky ridges forming obvious diamonds; older trees may be somewhat scaly.

Twigs

Thick to medium, gray to green-brown, smooth or fuzzy; leaf scars semicircular to flat across the top, with side buds sitting on top of leaf scar; end buds large, flanked by two side buds.

Values and Uses

The wood is heavy, hard, rather strong, brittle and coarse-grained, light brown, with a rather broad layer of lighter sapwood. It is marketed with white ash and used for tool handles, baseball bats, rough lumber, pulpwood, veneer, crates and boxes. Many birds and mammals eat the seeds, and deer browse the foliage. Green ash is commonly planted as a shade tree.

Did You Know?

Green ash can grow on sites that are flooded for up to 40 percent of the growing season.

Last modified: Monday, 10-Mar-2008 16:18:58 EDT