PUMPKIN ASH (_Fraxinus profunda_) is a tree of peculiar interest. It was unknown before 1893, though the region had been settled over a hundred years. It has the largest leaves, largest fruit, and largest swelled base of all American ashes. Notwithstanding that, it remained so deeply hidden in swamps that it escaped discovery. The botanical name refers to the deep swamps in which the tree chooses its habitation. Its great, swelled base enables it to stand on the soft mud of lagoon bottoms, and the abnormal swelling is ribbed like a pumpkin, hence the only English name the tree has ever had. These are not the only remarkable things connected with this ash. Its range includes three or four deep swamps, far apart. One is in southern Missouri, New Madrid country, another near Varney, Arkansas, and a third, in a vast morass on the Apalachicola river, Florida. It is believed to have been originally a Florida species, and by some freak of nature it reached the Missouri and Arkansas swamps. Certain other Florida plants accompanied it, one of which was corkwood (_Leitneria floridana_). It is expected that pumpkin ash will be found elsewhere in deep swamps intermediate between the extremes of its range. The uses of this wood are few, because it is scarce, and the trees are difficult of access on account of being nearly always surrounded by water. Lumbermen who operate in swamps occasionally bring out a few ash logs with cypress and tupelo. No tests seem to have been made of the wood. Trees are sometimes 120 feet high and three in diameter above the swelled bases. WATER ASH (_Fraxinus caroliniana_) is much lighter in weight than any other American ash, and the wood is also lighter in color. It is weaker and less elastic than any other, and is lower in fuel value. It weighs less than white pine. It grows in deep swamps from southern Virginia to Florida and westward in swamps to Texas. Some have confused it with pumpkin ash, but the two are quite distinct. This tree is also called poppy ash. The leaves are from seven to twelve inches long, with five or seven leaflets which are much blunter than most other ash leaves. The seeds are nearly in the center of the broad, long wing, and are better flyers than most ash seeds. The tree seldom exceeds forty feet in height, or twelve inches in diameter. It is not known that the wood is ever used. Its scarcity will keep it from becoming important, though its uncommon lightness may lead to its employment for certain purposes.