White Ash (Fraxinus americana)

Plantae>Magnoliophyta>Magnoliopsida>Scrophulariales>Oleaceae>Fraxinus americana L.

A fairly common overstory tree that occurs in a wide range of habitats. The leaves are whitish (glaucous) beneath and often more rounded than these. Very similar to Green Ash (F. pennsylvanica), which has green leaf undersides and occurs only in wet habitats. The easiest way to tell the two species apart is to look at the leaf scars -- in Green Ash the lateral bud is above the leaf scar; in White Ash the bud sits within the U-shaped scar.

The bark is tight, with either diamond-shaped intersecting ridges or alligator-back squares (or both, as here).

More information:
NC State Fact Sheet
Trees of Alabama and the Southeast
US Forest Service Silvics Manual
Virginia Tech Dendrology

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Revised 10/18/05 cwcook@duke.edu

All photographs and text ©2005 by Will Cook unless otherwise indicated.