The plant around us. Volume 1 The plant around us. Volume I | Page 66

Fraxiunus excelsior
It is a large deciduous tree growing to 12–18 m tall
English: Ash
Spanish: Fresno
Estonian: Harilik saar
with a trunk up to 2 m diameter, with a tall, narrow
crown.
The bark is smooth and pale grey on young trees,
becoming thick and vertically fissured on old trees.
Flowers
Fruit
Leaves
The leaves are opposite, 20–35
cm long, pinnately compound, with The fruit is a samara 2.5–
flowers are somewhat longer than the
male flowers, dark purple, without petals, 7-13 leaflets with coarsely broad, often hanging in
bunches through the
and are wind-pollinated. Both male and narrowly elliptic, 3–12 long and
0.8–3 cm broad and sessile on the
The flowers are borne in short panicles,
open before the leaves. The female
female flowers can occur on the same
tree, but it is more common to find all
male and all female trees.
serrated margins, elliptic to
leaf rachis
4.5 cm long and 5–8 mm
winter