Blue ash
Description
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
Distribution map
