Species

Fraxinus excelsior

Etymology

Fraxinus: From the Latin name for ash, possibly derived from the Greek phrasso 'to fence', the timber being very useful for fence making.

Common Name(s)

ash

Family

Oleaceae

Flora Category

Vascular - Exotic

NVS Species Code

FRAEXC

The National Vegetation Survey (NVS) Databank is a physical archive and electronic databank containing records of over 94,000 vegetation survey plots - including data from over 19,000 permanent plots. NVS maintains a standard set of species code abbreviations that correspond to standard scientific plant names from the Ngä Tipu o Aotearoa - New Zealand Plants database.

Structural Class

Dicotyledonous Trees & Shrubs

Habitat

Terrestrial. riverflats, forest, scrub and waste places.

Features

Large tree to about 30 m. Leaves alternate, with 9-13 leaflets on petioles to about 8 cm long. Leaflets to about 10 x 3.5 cm, lanceolate with serrate margins. The flowers are very small and purple, lack petals, and appear before the leaves with male and female flowers on separate trees. The single-winged seeds hang in dense clusters from the branches.

Similar Taxa

Several species of Ash are cultivated in New Zealand. F. excelsior can be separated by the large number of leaflets, and green mid-veins.

Flowering

September, October

Flower Colours

Violet / Purple

Year Naturalised

1904

Origin

Europe, W. Asia, N.Africa

Reason For Introduction
Ornamental

Reproduction
Seed

Seed
Many seeds are produced but wild plants are rare. Seed viability unknown.

Dispersal
People, wind

This page last updated on 18 Jan 2010