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Closeup of European Ash seeds <tr><th bgcolor=lightgreen>Scientific classification <tr><td>
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Ash tree

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Ash
<tr><td>Kingdom:<td>Plantae <tr><td>Division:<td>Magnoliophyta <tr><td>Class:<td>Magnoliopsida <tr><td>Order:<td>Lamiales <tr><td>Family:<td>Oleaceae <tr><td>Genus:<td>Fraxinus </table> <tr><th bgcolor=lightgreen>Species <tr><td> Many, see text. </table> An ash can be any of three different tree genera from three very distinct families (see end of page for disambiguation), but originally and most commonly refers to trees of the genus Fraxinus in the olive family Oleaceae. The ashes are usually medium to large trees, mostly deciduous though a few subtropical species are evergreen. The leaves are opposite (rarely in whorls of three), and mostly pinnately-compound, simple in a few species. The seeds, popularly known as keys, are a type of fruit known as a samara.
Contents

Species

Ashes of eastern North America

Ashes of western and southwestern North America

Ashes of the Western Palearctic (Europe, north Africa and southwest Asia)

Narrow-leafed Ash Fraxinus angustifolia shoot with leaves
Narrow-leafed Ash Fraxinus angustifolia shoot with leaves

Ashes of the Eastern Palearctic (central & eastern Asia)

Uses

The wood is hard, tough and very strong but elastic, extensively used for tool handles, quality wooden baseball bats, hurleys and other uses demanding high strength and resilience. It also makes excellent firewood. The two most economically important species for wood production are White Ash in eastern North America, and European Ash in Europe. The Green Ash is widely planted as a street tree in the United States. The inner bark of the Blue Ash has been used as a source for a blue dye.

Cultural aspects

In Norse mythology, the World Tree Yggdrasil was an ash tree, and the first man, Ask, was formed from an ash tree (the first woman was made from alder). Elsewhere in Europe, snakes were said to be repelled by ash leaves or a circle drawn by an ash branch. Irish folklore claims that shadows from an ash tree damage crops. In Cheshire, it is said that ash could be used to cure warts or rickets.

Other name uses (disambiguation)

In North America, the name ash is also given to species of Sorbus, more accurately known as Rowans and Whitebeams. In Australia, many common eucalyptus species are called ash because they too produce hard, fine-grained timber. The best known of these is the Mountain Ash, the tallest broadleaf tree in the world.

Threats

The emerald ash borer Agrilus planipennis, a wood-boring beetle introduced from eastern Asia accidentally with ash wood products in about 1998, threatens some 7 billion ash trees in the United States.

See also


da:Ask (Fraxinus) de:Eschen fr:Frêne nl:Es (boom) pl:Jesion sl:Jesen (drevo)

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