Description: Large deciduous tree, tall-domed, open; branches strongly ascending at a narrow angle from a long bole; biggest trees often pollards or many limbs from 2-3 m up. Burrs and sprouts on some trees; large cankers commonly on smaller trees.

Height: 25-45m Diameter: 1-2m

Leaves: Leaf opposite, pinnate, 20-35 cm with 9-13 cm leaflets, the terminal pait largest, terminal leaflet on 2 cm petiole, side ones 2 mm petiolules; to 12 cm long, ovate-oblong or lanceolate, acuminate; sharp shallow forward toothing; dull dark green above, pale beneath, with white pubescence densely each side of midrib. Buds on sucker and coppice-growth open in mid-April, uncurling like two opposite bracken-fronds; trees leaf out two to three weeks later. Autumn colour brief, yellow or none.

Shoots: Stout, green-grey with white lenticels, much flattened at nodes. Bud squat, conic, angled and black.

Bark: Pale grey, very smooth when young, later interwoven ridges, thick in old trees

Flowers: Total sexual confusion: some trees all male, some all female, some male with one or more female branches, some vice versa, some branches male one year, female the next, some with perfect flowers. Male flowers in dense globular bunches along shoots of the previous year, purplish then dark red in bud, open yellow with slender anthers in early April well before leaf-buds; female flowers similar but open more widely into a filigree of purple, then pale green.

Fruit: Ash keys abundant every few years, scarce in others, pale bright shiny green, wing 4×1 cm, oblanceolate, tip deeply or unevenly notched with terminal spine, pedicel slender 2.5 cm; hang shiny deep green in summer, brown after leaf-fall until eaten by bullfinches.

Habitat: In mountains, sporadically in woods of beech and spruce, to 1700m. A sun-loving tree, it prefers soils which are deep, fresh, and loose. In Britain, abundant where soil is base-rich and damp, as in northern limestone areas; less common on sandy soils.

Range: Widespread through Europe except in far north, and southern half of Iberian peninsula.

Grown widely for wood, less often for timber, so is frequently coppiced or pollarded. The wood, which is light brown with bright highlights is used for skis, oars and sledges as well as furniture. The roots are valued for their dark veining. The leaves were used for animal fodder; a decoction was obtained from the bark for treating liver ailments and an extract from the ashes used for scabies.

Information: Mitchell (1988), MacDonald (1984)

Examples: Four mature trees, W edge of US strip and one somewhat smaller on east side. One big one (and a small one almost shaded out by it) on South boundary, more in Euro-strip, including three more big ones. One very substantial tree in the wall between our two meadows.

As we have so many mature trees, there are no plans to plant any more. Indeed, a certain amount of effort is needed to prevent the place filling up with volunteer seedlings - two or three each year seem to make it to a metre or so high before being noticed, and anything above this size is very difficult to kill unless the roots are dug out.

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