The Ash Tree

The Ash Tree

The Ash Tree

We have a wonderful ash in our garden, about forty to fifty feet tall, and very broad for the height, although it may reach as high as one hundred feet. This tree is common throughout the UK, a true native, but is no less special for it's frequency. It has very open foliage, due to it's branched leaves (leaflets), and therefore plenty of light is allowed to penetrate the crown, making it rather good for the larger garden and a little too large for mine! These leaves are sometimes a foot or more in length, but the leaflets prevent them from appearing heavy or ponderous.

The bark is grey in colour, both on the trunk and branches, and on younger trees is quite smooth. As the ash matures, however, this bark splits into fissures and furrows, and is often found covered with shaggy lichens. The flowers are barely noticeable, and are often bypassed even by insects - the tree relies on the wind to disprese it's pollen. These flowers have no petals or sepals and are also rather irregular, some showing stamens but no pistils - a flower without a pistil cannot produce seed.

The fruits (or 'keys') containing the seed ripen in autumn and hang upon the tree in bunches often throughout the winter. Each key has a propeller shaped 'wing', allowing it to travel long distances upon the wind. The ash is of the same family as southern Europe's olive tree, and is related also to the common privet. It's wood is tough and elastic, and is used for tool handles and hockey sticks, and in past times in the construction of tennis raquets.

There are many other equally impressive denizens of the countryside, the beauty of which has been disregarded and lost to the folk memory; however, I believe that with the renewed interest in our environment, and the increased focus on local areas of conservation, appreciation of our native trees can onlyimprove.

Many of us, I think, are guilty of passing by, and indeed under,our wonderful trees without noticing their great size and beauty - a missed opportunity and a squandered resource, the remedy for which involves doing nothing more complex than simply looking skyward!

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