North Carolina Wildflowers

Oleaceae > Fraxinus (ash)

Statewide in North Carolina and generally uncommon but it may be locally common. Favors bottomlands, swamps, and riparian zones.

Compared to White Ash (F. americana), Green Ash leaflets tend to be slighly narrower and greener below.

Flowers appear in spring and fruits mature in fall. The wing of the samara generally extends about half way down the side of the seed.

Green Ash usually exhibits "perched" buds, such that the majority of the bud in the leaf axil is above the fairly flat-topped leaf scar. (White Ash buds are generally strongly hugged by leaf scars that are more "U" shaped.)

Note the shape of the leaf scar is variable from fairly flat, to somewhat notched, as these three photos depict.

Bark of small tree.

Bark of mature tree.