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Species Guide |
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| The following species are discussed in this guide: | |||||||
| white ash, Fraxinus americana |
green ash, Fraxinus pennsylvanica |
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| blue ash, Fraxinus quadrangulata |
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| Species | white ashFraxinus
americana |
| Species Name | of America |
| Sites and Soils | White ash is a site-demanding species, found on mesic slopes, ravines, coves and upper bottomlands. |
| Ecology | White ash is intermediate in tolerance and is a gap-phase species. It regenerates in mesic sites in mixture with other hardwoods, eastern hemlock and eastern white pine. White ash can also be found on poorer upland sites, especially on calcareous soils, but it generally does not reach its best size and form on such sites. Usually a scattered tree, it can form pure stands on occasion, especially after abandonment of farmland. |
| Life History | White ash is dioecious, flowering just before the leaves. It is bee pollinated. Some seeds are borne every year, but are abundant at irregular intervals (2-5 years). Samaras are released to the wind in the fall, and seeds enter the seed bank, germinating when light intensities are high at the soil surface. Seeds rarely germinate the spring following release, as they require a warm period followed by cold for germination. Growth is moderately fast, with trees reaching 10 feet within 4 years. Young trees will stump sprout after fire or felling, and sprouts may grow 10 feet in 2 years. Trees typically become 80'x3' (Champion 95'x8'), and may live for 300-400 years. |
| Interactions | VA mycorrhizal. Wind and bee pollinated? White ash has a large number of pests and pathogens. The most important problem is ash yellows, caused by a mycoplasma-like organism. This disease, especially prevalent in the north, is fatal. More information can be obtained from the Forest Service Forest Health site. Ash declines may also be physiologic, often caused by changes in soil hydrology by construction. |
| Status | Abundant. Decreasing in the North due to ash decline, including ash yellows. |
| Range | Eastern Deciduous Forest, except southern Mississippi River Valley, southern Atlantic and Gulf Coastal Plains. |
| Kentucky status | Abundant. Increasing with abandonment of farm land. |
| Kentucky range | Entire state. |
| Uses | Ash wood is hard, strong and flexible. It is among the most valuable hardwood species, and is best known for baseball bats, especially the legendary Louisville Slugger. Also used for furniture, flooring, tool handles, snowshoes, tennis racquets, hockey sticks and polo mallets. |
| Ornamental use | White ash is a beautiful ornamental for large sites. It is presently being overused for unsuitable sites, such as in parking lots and along narrow boulevards. It is too large a tree and too susceptible to stem and root injury for such uses. |
| Notes | Biltmore ash, sometimes considered a separate species but here included with white ash, differs from white ash in having pubescent leaflets, rachises, petioles and twigs. |
| Species | green ashFraxinus
pennsylvanica |
| Species Name | of Pennsylvania |
| Sites and Soils | Green ash is found in riverbottoms, and along creekbanks, swamp borders and lower coves on a wide range of soil types. |
| Ecology | Green ash has a huge range, and is an abundant tree throughout the Eastern Deciduous Forest. It is intolerant, and found mixed with other bottomland species, such as elm, cottonwood, sycamore, boxelder and silver maple. A pubescent form, red ash, is an upland tree, silvically similar to white ash. |
| Life History | See white ash. Green ash is similar except that it is much shorter lived, with a maximum of 150 years (red ash might live longer), and is usually smaller, 50'x2' (Champion 131'x6.4'). |
| Interactions | VA mycorrhizal. Bee pollinated? Green ash has a large number of pests and pathogens. The most important problem is ash yellows, caused by a mycoplasma-like organism. This disease, especially prevalent in the north, is fatal. More information can be obtained from the Forest Service Forest Health site. Ash declines may also be physiologic, often caused by changes in soil hydrology by construction. |
| Status | Abundant; stable |
| Range | Eastern Deciduous Forest, including Plains Extension, all the way to the Rocky Mts. in Montana, Alberta. Some discontinuities exist in the range, notably in the Southern Tier of New York State. |
| Kentucky status | Abundant; stable |
| Kentucky range | Entire state |
| Uses | Green ash wood is distinctly inferior to that of white ash, and is not suitable for baseball bats. It is commonly used for other lumber purposes, including rough lumber, and for pulp. |
| Ornamental use | Green ash is well-suited to urban landscapes, being more tolerant of soil compaction than white ash. As a result, it has been overused, and many cities are covered in green ash. Further use should be discouraged until better balance is achieved. Some nursery workers apparently have trouble distinguishing white from green ash, as it is common to see unintentionally mixed plantings. |
| Notes | Red ash, a subspecies of green ash, occurs frequently on uplands, and large trees can be difficult to distinguish from white ash. |
| Species | blue ashFraxinus
quadrangulata |
| Species Name | Four-angled, for the twigs. |
| Sites and Soils | Blue ash is an upland species on calcareous soils, or on rich bottoms. |
| Ecology | Blue ash is most often encountered as an open-grown tree in calcareous prairie sites, particularly in the Bluegrass of Kentucky. The ashy gray bark and massive form make it resemble its common associate, bur oak. Blue ash is intolerant and slow growing. On more mesic sites, blue ash is a forest tree, mixed with white ash, oaks and hickories, and eastern redcedar. |
| Life History | Blue ash is dioecious or polygamodioecious. It flowers in spring with the leaves, and is bee pollinated. Seed production is irregular, and in mast years weevils frequently destroy most of the seeds. Seeds can remain in the seed bank for decades. Growth is slow, and the tree is very long-lived, perhaps living to 1000 years. Blue ash is typically short and stout when open grown, reaching 70'x3' (Champion 90'x4.6') |
| Interactions | VA mycorrhizal. Wind and bee pollinated? Blue ash has few pests and pathogens, and human activity is the major threat to this species. |
| Status | Infrequent. Declining since settlement due to conversion of prairie land to pasture. |
| Range | Central part of Eastern Deciduous Forest, Wisconsing to Oklahoma, E. to Kentucky, Georgia. |
| Kentucky status | Infrequent. Declining, especially in the Bluegrass, where it is becoming increasingly rare. In one case, a large stand of blue ash, both mature trees and seedlings, was cleared to create a housing estate with the ironic name Ashbrooke. This species is of special concern in Kentucky, and efforts need to be made to increase the species. |
| Kentucky range | Common only in the Bluegrass, and occurs elsewhere on limestone. |
| Uses | Blue Ash was formerly important for house construction and furniture in the midwest, especially in the Bluegrass, where many older houses are floored with blue ash boards. Now, it is too uncommon to be commercially important, most of the large trees having been cut, or killed by soil compaction and tractor damage. A blue dye was obtained from the inner bark, and used in fabric dying by Native Americans and European settlers. |
| Ornamental use | Hardly used, blue ash should be encouraged in calcareous soils to which it was native. It is suited only to very large sites. |
| Notes |