Common ash
Fraxinus excelsior
Family · Oleaceae · Harmless
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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.
Streams and ditches · Uplands · Oak woods
Also known asEuropean ash, ash tree
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
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.
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.
Where it occurs
Each square is an area with recorded observations of this plant. The lighter background is the set of areas where any of the entries has been observed, and serves as a reference. Note what this is not: it is not where the plant lives, it is where people record it, so trails and towns always look fuller than the mountains. Data from GBIF.
Sources
Community
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