The White ash. (Fraxinus Americana.) This species, according to Michaux, is common to the colder parts of the Union, and is most abundant north of the Hudson. It owes its name to the light color of the bark, which on large stocks is deeply furrowed, and divided into squares of one to three inches in diameter. The trunk is perfectly straight, and in close woods is often undivided to the height of more than 40 feet. The leaves are composed of three or four pairs of leaflets, terminated by an odd one; the whole twelve or fourteen inches long. Early in spring they are covered with a light down which disappears as summer advances, when they become quite smooth, of a light green color above and whitish beneath. The foliage, as well as the timber of our White ash, is finer than that of the common European ash, and the tree is much prized in France and Germany.
