Fraxinus nigra - (image 1 of 5)
Taxonomy
Family: Oleaceae
Habitat
Wet woods, swamps, bogs. Calcareous springy slopes.
Associates
Distribution
New England west to ND, south to KY, VA.
Morphology
With with a height up to 25 meters with a small, open crown. Bark pale gray, starting smooth and later developing corky ridges. Leaves opposite, pinnate compound; leaflets 7-11 (typically 9), serrate, sessile. Branchlets glabrous. Body of samara flattened.
Notes
Flowers late April
Wetland indicator: Facultative Wetland +
Not very tolerant of shade. Slow growing. The sessile leaflets and corky, almost powdery bark are the most readily distinguishable characteristics. Typically found in or around wetlands.
Bibliography
Gleason, Henry A.
and A. Cronquist. 1991. Manual of Vascular Plants of Northeastern United States
and Adjacent Canada. Second Ed.
The New York Botanical Garden. Bronx, NY
Hardin, J.W., D. J. Leopold, and F.M. White. 2000. Harlow and Harrar’s Textbook of Dendrology. Ninth Ed.
McGraw-Hill. New York.
Swink, F. and G.
Wilhelm. 1994. Plants of the Chicago Region.
Indiana Academy of Science. The Morton Arboretum. Lisle, Illinois.
USDA, NRCS. 2002. The PLANTS Database, Version 3.5 (http://plants.usda.gov).
National Plant Data Center, Baton Rouge, LA 70874-4490 USA.
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Michael Hough © 2009 |