Blue ash

Leaves

Form

• Pinnately compound
• 5–11 leaflets on a central stalk
• Short-stalked
• Base asymmetrical

Length

• Leaflets 8–14 cm
• Leaflets and central stalk 13–25 cm

Margin

• Coarsely toothed

Buds

Form

• Terminal bud present

Twigs

Form

• 4-sided, with 4 conspicuous ridges or wings

Flowers

Form

• Panicles

Structure

• Synoecious

Floral timing

• With the leaves

Fruits

Form

• Wing broad, twisted, often notched at the tip
• Enclosing flattened seedcase

Structure

• Samara

Bark

Form

• With age broken into irregular fissures and loose scaly plates
• Appears shaggy

Colour

• Inner bark turns blue when exposed

Wood

Texture

• Hard, heavy, strong, coarse-grained

Size

Height

• To 20 m

Diameter

• To 25 cm

Tree form

Forest-grown

Trunk

• Slightly tapered

Crown

• Narrow, often irregular, branches spreading

Habitat

Site

• Found on floodplains and on limestone outcrops
• The most drought-resistant of the native ashes

Associated species

• Occurs as a scattered tree with white ash, black ash, chinquapin oak, black walnut,
• and other southern broadleaf trees

Range

In Canada, southwestern Ontario; in the United States, Wisconsin and Michigan south to Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Alabama

COSEWIC Status

Special concern