Plants of South Eastern New South Wales
Fraxinus excelsior
Common name
European Ash
Family
Oleaceae
Where found
Garden escape. North from the Wollongong district. Canberra. Occasionally elsewhere.
Notes
Introduced deciduous tree to 40 m high. Bark smooth and pale grey on young trees, becoming thick and fissured on older trees. Winter buds at the tips of the branches dull black. Leaves opposite each other, 25–42 cm long; compound, with 7–15 leaflets each 3–11 cm long, 15–45 mm wide, tips pointed, or rounded with a narrow abrupt point, surfaces hairless except for the lower part of the midrib on lower surface, margins coarsely toothed. Leaves have no marked autumn colour, often falling when dull green. Male and female flowers on the same tree, or on different trees. Flowers small, with 0 petals, 0 sepals, female flowers dark purple, in many-flowered branched clusters. Flowers appear before the leaves, in spring. 'Seeds' with one wing, brown when mature, 2-5 cm long overall.
VICFLORA description: https://vicflora.rbg.vic.gov.au/flora/taxon/fc2622ed-46f4-4a2b-9907-9917b14585ca (accessed 16 April 2021)
Wikipedia description: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fraxinus_excelsior (accessed 16 April 2021)
This identification key and fact sheets are available as a free mobile application:
