Common ash

Fraxinus excelsior

Family · Oleaceae · Harmless

Traditional use

The ash of cold northern valleys, tall and straight, with coal-black buds that identify it in winter better than any leaf. It is a tree of watercourses and wet meadows.

Where it grows

Streams and ditches · Uplands · Oak woods

Also known as

European ash, ash tree

In flower

In fruit

How to tell it

Winter buds of an unmistakable velvety black, opposite on the twig. Compound leaves of nine to thirteen toothed leaflets on a common axis. The flowers come before the leaves, dark purple and petalless. The fruits hang in bunches of flattened wings all winter.

What it is confused with

Narrow-leaved ash

Fraxinus angustifolia

Harmless confusion

The buds decide: black on common ash, brown on the southern narrow-leaved ash. And the southern one's leaflets are far narrower and longer. Neither is dangerous.

Open sheet →

What it is for

The wood is elastic and shock resistant and was the historic choice for axe handles, bows, skis and cartwheels. The leaves had traditional use as an infusion. It is the tree now disappearing from Europe because of an Asian fungus, and it is worth noticing while it is still here.

With documented traditional uses. Not a therapeutic indication and not a dose.

Sources

Flora-On