Fraxinus angustifolia seed

LATIN NAME: Fraxinus angustifolia

COMMON NAME: Narrow-Leaved Ash

The narrow-leaved ash is a handsome, upright, tall, deciduous tree of the moist, open places, and its fine, narrow, lance-shaped, sharply toothed leaflets arranged along the slender stems and its small, inconspicuous flowers, followed by the fine, hanging clusters of the narrow, winged fruits, have made it a treasured and fine tree of the region. It grows as an upright, tall, deciduous tree, reaching up to thirty metres or more, with the upright, tapering, grey-barked trunk bearing the opposite, pinnate leaves of the many narrow, lance-shaped, pointed, sharply toothed leaflets and, through the early spring, the small, inconspicuous flowers without the true petals, followed by the fine, hanging clusters of the narrow, one-winged fruits. It is a species of the flowering tree in the olive family, and it is native to the moist, open places of the southern Europe and the surrounding regions, while it is treasured for its fine, narrow, feathery foliage, and it is known as the narrow-leaved ash.

In the olive family it is the feathery, narrow-leaved ash of the warm south, a tree whose light, airy crown and tough wood have served the region for the ages.

Scientific Research & Plant Biotechnology

The narrow-leaved ash appears in the tree papers of the southern Europe, and the botanists have mapped its place in the olive family and the regional flora. The natural-product chemists have examined the bark and the leaves with their record of traditional use, and the foresters have valued the hard, tough, flexible wood of the region. It is a tree of the useful, airy kind, and the growers of the avenue and the park keep it in their catalogues.

Ecological & Economic Value & Wide Applications

In the avenue and the park, the narrow-leaved ash is the feathery tree of the open ground. Its flowers feed the insects, its winged fruits feed the birds, and the narrow, leafy crown gives a light, airy shade. The hard, tough wood has served the fine building and the tools of the region, and the tree grows well in the moist, well-drained ground of the open, sunny spot. Feathery-leaved, tough and light.

Gather the fine, winged fruits and give them a cold, damp rest in a bag of moist vermiculite in the fridge, then sow them shallowly in pots of loamy, free-draining soil, keep them moist and set the pots in a bright, sheltered spot, and they’ll come along before long.