Fraxinus quadrangulata | |
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Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Plantae |
(unranked): | Angiosperms |
(unranked): | Eudicots |
(unranked): | Asterids |
Order: | Lamiales |
Family: | Oleaceae |
Genus: | Fraxinus |
Species: | F. quadrangulata |
Binomial name | |
Fraxinus quadrangulata Michx. |
Fraxinus quadrangulata (Blue Ash) is a species of Fraxinus native primarily to the Midwestern United States, as well as the Bluegrass region of Kentucky and the Nashville Basin region of Tennessee. Isolated populations exist in Alabama, Southern Ontario, and small sections of the Appalachian Mountains.[1] It is typically found over calcareous substrates such as limestone, growing on limestone slopes and in moist valley soils, at elevations of 120β600 m.[2][3]
It is a medium-sized deciduous tree typically reaching a height of 10β25 m with a trunk 50β100 cm diameter. The twigs typically have four corky ridges, a distinctive feature giving them a square appearance (in cross-section), hence the species name, quadrangulata, meaning four-angled. The winter buds are reddish-brown. The leaves are 20β38 cm long, with 5β11 (most often 7) leaflets, the leaflets 7β13 cm long and 2.5β5 cm broad, with a coarsely serrated margin and short but distinct petiolules. The flowers are small and purplish, produced in the early spring before the leaves appear. The fruit is a samara 2.5β5 cm long and 6β12 mm broad, including the wing.[2][3]
The common name is because early European settlers made blue dye from the inner bark.[3]