ash

(ăsh)

1. Any of various chiefly deciduous ornamental or timber trees of the genus Fraxinus, having opposite, pinnately compound leaves, clusters of small flowers, and one-seeded winged fruits.
2. The strong, elastic wood of this tree, used for furniture, tool handles, and sporting goods such as baseball bats.
3. Linguistics. The letter æ in Old English and some modern phonetic alphabets, representing the vowel sound of Modern English ash.

[Middle English asshe, from Old English æsc.]

View more Science videos

For more information on ash, visit Britannica.com.

A genus, Fraxinus, of deciduous trees of the olive family Oleaceae, order Scrophulariales, which have opposite, pinnate leaflets, except in one species, F. anomala, which has only a single leaflet. There are about 65 species in the Northern Hemisphere. This tree occurs in America south to Mexico, in Asia south to Java, and in Europe. See also Scrophulariales.

The white ash (F. americana), of the eastern United States, has stalked leaflets, rusty-colored winter buds, and an erect trunk that is valuable for lumber. The wood is light, strong, but flexible, and is used for oars, baseball bats, furniture, motor vehicle parts, boxes, baskets, and crates. The black ash (F. nigra) grows in wet soils in the northeastern United States and Canada and has sessile leaflets and friable outer bark. The wood of black ash is used for the same purposes as that of white ash. The red ash (F. pennsylvanica), also of the eastern United States and adjacent Canada, has pubescent (hairy) twigs and leafstalks. The uses of the wood of this species are also similar to those of white ash. Some species of ash are ornamental trees, such as the flowering ash (F. ornus) with gray winter buds and white flowers, and the European ash (F. excelsior) with black buds and sessile leaflets. See also Forest and forestry; Tree.

A traditional cure, recorded in several counties, for young children with hernias; an ash sapling, preferably one grown from seed and never touched by a knife, was split down the middle and held open with wedges, the child was passed through the gap, and the damaged tree tightly bound up—as its cleft healed, so the hernia would disappear. Descriptions of the procedure from the 19th century include further ritualistic details: it must be done at dawn, with the child naked and held face up; or it must be done by nine people, from west to east, on nine successive mornings; or it must be done at midnight, nine times, in complete silence. The tree must not be cut down during the child's lifetime.

The tree's other major use was for curing lameness, pains, and swellings in cattle, supposedly caused by a shrew running over them. A shrew would be thrust into a deep hole bored into an ash tree, and the hole plugged up; once the shrew was dead, any animal whipped with twigs from that tree would be cured. A famous shrew-ash in Richmond Park was frequently visited, in the mid-19th century, by women bringing sickly children for healing, especially from whooping cough.

Other beliefs are that snakes cannot bear to be near an ash, or even its leaves or a stick cut from its wood; and that anyone carrying ash-keys cannot be bewitched. A well-known rhyme predicts how rainy the spring will be from the relative dates of budding by oak and ash; another warns that ashes attract lightning:

Avoid the ash,

It draws the flash.

Bibliography
The full bibliography list is available here.

• Vickery, 1995: 14-19
• Opie and Tatem, 1989: 5-8, 355-6

A hard, strong, straight-grained hardwood of the eastern US having good shock resistance and bending qualities; used as flooring, trim, and decorative veneer.

A tree regarded with awe in Celtic countries, especially Ireland. The ash may be any of the various trees of the genus Fraxinus, which usually grow quite tall and have close-grained wood; the mountain ash, rowan, or quicken tree, a smaller tree of the genus Sorbus aucuparia, is usually considered separately in the Celtic imagination.

There are several recorded instances in Irish history in which people refused to cut an ash, even when wood was scarce, for fear of having their own cabins consumed with flame. The ash tree itself might be used in May Day (Beltaine) rites. Under the Old Irish word nin, the ash also gives its name to the letter N in the ogham alphabet. Together with the oak and thorn, the ash is part of a magical trilogy in fairy lore. Ash seedpods may be used in divination, and the wood has the power to ward off fairies, especially on the Isle of Man. In Gaelic Scotland children were given the astringent sap of the tree as a medicine and as a protection against witch-craft. Some famous ash trees were the Tree of Uisnech, the Bough of Dathí, and the Tree of Tortu. The French poet who used Breton sources, Marie de France (late 12th cent.), wrote a lai about an ash tree.

OIr. nin; Irish fuinseog; Scottish Gaelic fuinnseann; Manx unjin; Welsh onnen; Cornish onnen; Breton onnenn. See also FAIRY TREE; TREE.

There are many old superstitions of the wonderful influence of the ash tree. The old Christmas log was of ash wood, and its use was helpful to the future prosperity of the family. Venomous animals, it was said, would not take shelter under its branches. A carriage with its axles made of ash wood was believed to go faster than a carriage with its axles made of any other wood, and tools with handles made of this wood were supposed to enable a man to do more work than he could do with tools whose handles were not of ash. Hence the reason that ash wood is generally used for tool handles. It was upon ash branches that witches were enabled to ride through the air, and those who ate the red buds of the tree on St. John's Eve were rendered invulnerable to witches' influence.

In speaking of the ash, reference was often to the mountain ash or rowan tree.

Sources:

Porteous, Alexander. Forest Folklore, Mythology, and Romance. London: George Allen & Unwin, 1928.

• Trees
• Materials, Formations, and Substances - ash: finely powdered volcanic lava
• Hardwoods
• Smoking and Tobacco - ash: powdery burned tobacco, esp. burned portion of a cigar or cigarette
• Gray

Fraxinus
Fraxinus ornus
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
(unranked):	Angiosperms
(unranked):	Eudicots
(unranked):	Asterids
Order:	Lamiales
Family:	Oleaceae
Tribe:	Oleeae
Genus:	Fraxinus L.[1]
Species
See text

European Ash in flower

Narrow-leafed Ash (Fraxinus angustifolia) shoot with leaves

Closeup of European Ash seeds

Fraxinus ornus

Fraxinus ( /ˈfræksɨnəs/)^[2] is a genus of flowering plants in the olive and lilac family, Oleaceae. It contains 45-65 species of usually medium to large trees, mostly deciduous though a few subtropical species are evergreen. The tree's common English name, ash, goes back to the Old English æsc, while the generic name originated in Latin. Both words also meant "spear" in their respective languages.^[3] The leaves are opposite (rarely in whorls of three), and mostly pinnately compound, simple in a few species. The seeds, popularly known as keys or helicopter seeds, are a type of fruit known as a samara. Rowans or Mountain Ashes are unrelated to true ashes and belong to the Genus Sorbus though the leaves and buds are superficially similar.

Contents 1 Selected species 2 Ecology 3 Threats 4 Uses 5 Cultural aspects 6 Footnotes 7 Bibliography 8 See also 9 External links

Selected species

Eastern North America

• Fraxinus americana L. – White Ash or Autumn Purple Ash
• Fraxinus caroliniana Mill. – Carolina Ash
• Fraxinus nigra Marshall – Black Ash
• Fraxinus pennsylvanica Marshall Green Ash
• Fraxinus profunda (Bush) Bush – Pumpkin Ash
• Fraxinus quadrangulata Michx. – Blue Ash

Western and southwestern North America

• Fraxinus anomala Torr. ex S.Watson – Singleleaf Ash
• Fraxinus berlandieriana DC. – Mexican Ash
• Fraxinus cuspidata Torr. – Fragrant Ash
• Fraxinus dipetala Hook. & Arn. – California Ash or Two-petal Ash
• Fraxinus dubia
• Fraxinus gooddingii – Goodding's Ash
• Fraxinus greggii A.Gray – Gregg's Ash
• Fraxinus latifolia Benth. – Oregon Ash
• Fraxinus lowellii – Lowell Ash
• Fraxinus papillosa Lingelsh. – Chihuahua Ash
• Fraxinus purpusii
• Fraxinus rufescens
• Fraxinus texensis (A.Gray) Sarg. – Texas Ash
• Fraxinus uhdei (Wenz.) Lingelsh. – Shamel Ash or Tropical Ash
• Fraxinus velutina Torr. – Velvet Ash or Arizona Ash

Western Palearctic (Europe, north Africa and southwest Asia)

• Fraxinus angustifolia Vahl – Narrow-leafed Ash
  • Fraxinus angustifolia subsp. oxycarpa – Caucasian Ash
• Fraxinus dimorpha
• Fraxinus excelsior L. – European Ash
• Fraxinus holotricha Koehne
• Fraxinus ornus L. – Manna Ash or Flowering Ash
• Fraxinus syriaca
• Fraxinus pallisiae Wilmott – Pallis' Ash

Eastern Palearctic (central and east Asia)

• Fraxinus apertisquamifera
• Fraxinus baroniana
• Fraxinus bungeana DC. – Bunge's Ash
• Fraxinus chinensis Roxb. – Chinese Ash or Korean Ash
• Fraxinus chiisanensis
• Fraxinus floribunda Wall. – Himalayan Manna Ash
• Fraxinus griffithiiC.B.Clarke – Griffith's Ash
• Fraxinus hubeiensis
• Fraxinus japonica – Japanese Ash
• Fraxinus lanuginosa
• Fraxinus longicuspis
• Fraxinus malacophylla
• Fraxinus mandschurica Rupr. – Manchurian Ash
• Fraxinus mariesii – Maries' Ash
• Fraxinus micrantha Lingelsh.
• Fraxinus paxiana Lingelsh.
• Fraxinus platypoda
• Fraxinus raibocarpa Regel
• Fraxinus sieboldiana Blume – Japanese Flowering Ash
• Fraxinus sogdiana Bge
• Fraxinus spaethiana Lingelsh. – Späth's Ash
• Fraxinus trifoliata
• Fraxinus xanthoxyloides (G.Don) Wall. ex DC. – Afghan Ash^[4][5]

Ecology

Ash is used as a food plant by the larvae of some Lepidoptera species (butterflies and moths) -- see list of Lepidoptera that feed on ashes.

Threats

Canker on an Ash tree in North Ayrshire, Scotland

Emerald ash borer

The emerald ash borer (Agrilus planipennis) is a wood-boring beetle accidentally introduced to North America from eastern Asia via solid wood packing material in the late 1980's to early 1990's. It has killed tens of millions of trees in 15 states in the United States and adjacent Ontario. It threatens some 7 billion ash trees in North America. Research is being conducted to determine if three native asian wasps, who are natural predators of EAB could be used as a biological control for the management of EAB populations in the United States. The public is being cautioned not to transport unfinished wood products, such as firewood, to slow the spread of this insect pest.^[6]

Uses

Ash is a hardwood and is hard, dense (within 20% of 670 kg/m³ for Fraxinus americana,^[7] and higher at 710 kg/m³ for Fraxinus excelsior^[8]), tough and very strong but elastic, extensively used for making bows, tool handles, baseball bats, hurleys and other uses demanding high strength and resilience.

It is also often used as material for electric guitar bodies and, less commonly, for acoustic guitar bodies, known for its bright, cutting tone and sustaining quality. They are also used for making drum shells. Interior joinery is another common user of both European Ash and White Ash. Ash veneers are extensively used in office furniture. Ash is not used extensively outdoors due to the heartwood having a low durability to ground contact,^[8] meaning it will typically perish within five years.

Woodworkers generally like the timber for its great finishing qualities. It also has good machining qualities, and is quite easy to use with nails, screws and glue.^[7] Ash was commonly used for the structural members of the bodies of cars made by carriage builders. Early cars had frames which were intended to flex as part of the suspension system in order to simplify construction The Morgan Motor Company of Great Britain still manufacture sports cars with frames made from Ash. It was also widely used by early aviation pioneers for ther aircraft.

It makes excellent firewood and barbecue or smoking wood. The two most economically important species for wood production are White Ash in eastern North America, and European Ash in Europe. The Green Ash (F. pennsylvanica) is widely planted as a street tree in the United States. The inner bark of the Blue Ash (F. quadrangulata) has been used as a source for a blue dye.

Cultural aspects

Unusual 'Treelets' growing from a fallen Ash tree in Lawthorn wood, Ayrshire, Scotland

In Norse mythology, the World Tree Yggdrasil is commonly held to be an ash tree, and the first man, Ask, was formed from an ash tree. 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 would damage crops. In Cheshire, it was said that ash could be used to cure warts or rickets. In Sussex the ash and elm tree were known as the Widow Maker because the large boughs would often drop without warning.

In Greek mythology, the Meliae were nymphs of the ash, perhaps specifically of the Manna Ash (Fraxinus ornus), as dryads were nymphs of the oak. Many echoes of archaic Hellene rites and myth involve ash trees.

The ash exudes a sugary substance that, it has been suggested, was fermented to create the Norse Mead of Inspiration.^[9]

Footnotes

1. ^ "Fraxinus L.". Germplasm Resources Information Network. United States Department of Agriculture. 2006-04-03. http://www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/html/genus.pl?4752. Retrieved 2010-02-22. 
2. ^ Sunset Western Garden Book, 1995:606–607
3. ^ J. P. Mallory, Douglas Q. Adams, ed (1997). Encyclopedia of Indo-European culture. Taylor & Francis. p. 32. ISBN 9781884964985. http://books.google.com/?id=tzU3RIV2BWIC. 
4. ^ "Species Records of Fraxinus". Germplasm Resources Information Network. United States Department of Agriculture. http://www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/html/splist.pl?4752. Retrieved 2010-02-22. 
5. ^ "Fraxinus L.". ITIS Standard Reports. Integrated Taxonomic Information System. http://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=32928. Retrieved 2010-02-22. 
6. ^ "The Problem". Don't Move Firewood. http://www.dontmovefirewood.org/the-problem.html. Retrieved 14 October 2011. 
7. ^ ^{a b} "White Ash". Niche Timbers. http://www.nichetimbers.co.uk/north-american-hardwood/ash/. Retrieved 2010-02-22. 
8. ^ ^{a b} "Ash". Niche Timbers. http://www.nichetimbers.co.uk/native-hardwood/ash/. Retrieved 2010-02-22. 
9. ^ Dumont, Darl J. (Summer 1992). "The Ash Tree In Indo-European Culture". Mankind Quarterly 32 (4): 323–336. http://www.musaios.com/ash.htm. 

Bibliography

Philips, Roger. Trees of North America and Europe, Random House, Inc., New York ISBN 0-394-50259-0, 1979.

See also

• List of Lepidoptera that feed on ashes
• Æ, the letter ash

External links

Media related to Fraxinus at Wikimedia Commons Data related to Fraxinus at Wikispecies

This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)