1. Red Ash. 2. White Ash. 3. Black Ash. 4. European Ash. ] Chapter IV THE ASHES Family Oleaceæ In winter there is little to attract us in ash trees beyond a certain bold strength of trunk and limb. There is no grace or delicacy whatever in the branches, the twigs are coarsely moulded, and the buds are thick and leathery. The popular prejudice existing against ash trees in summer, when the contrast of their light foliage and heavy trunks makes it less deserved, is fully warranted in winter; but if the ash is ugly, the wood of few trees is as generally useful, and its literary history dates back to the “Odyssey” and to the Eddas of Norse mythology. The generic name, _Fraxinus_, comes from the Latin _phraxis_ (separation), and probably alludes to the wood of the European species which splits easily. There are about fifteen different species in the United States, three of which are found commonly in New England. The green ash, which used to be considered a distinct species, is now thought to be a variety of the red ash. All the ashes have opposite leaf-scars. [Sidenote: White or American Ash _Fraxinus americana_] _A large tree with a straight trunk. Bark furrowed with irregular ridges, the hollows forming diamond shapes frequently. Buds smooth, thick and hard like leather, and a rusty brown color. Twigs smooth, without down. Leaf-scars opposite, and the stems are flattened at the nodes. Cross-shaped branching of the twigs against the sky._ [Illustration: AMERICAN ASH _Fraxinus americana_ Page 36 ] The white ash is a tree which we find frequently along roadsides and in the woods everywhere in New England. The characteristics which distinguish it from other trees in winter are the close diamond-shaped fissures of the bark, the rusty brown buds, and often the old clusters of paddle-shaped fruit hanging on the tree. On some ash trees black, berry-like excrescences are found hanging in dry clusters on the ends of the branches. These are not clusters of fruit, as might at first be supposed, but the diseased and undeveloped remains of the panicles of staminate flowers which have been injured by mites,—curious freaks resembling oak-apples and the outgrowths of other insect poisoned plants. Occasionally these berry-like clusters have been gathered as seeds, by mistake, instead of the true fruit, a mistake which does not seem remarkable when the fruit-like appearance of the clusters is considered.