Centenary College Arboretum: Tree of the Week: Carolina Ash (Fraxinus caroliniana)

Sunday, November 12, 2017

Tree of the Week: Carolina Ash (Fraxinus caroliniana)

Our tree of the week is best appreciated from afar. Stand back and take in the stunning color of its crown. Carolina ash (Fraxinus caroliniana) has been living on the grounds of the arboretum since 1995. In the spring of '94, Ed Leuck collected a specimen from Walter Jacobs Nature Park. The young tree was nurtured in a pot for over a year before being planted in November 1995. From the very moment of its arrival, it has been in fierce competition with a swamp white oak (Quercus michauxii), which was planted the same November. The photos below show that despite the rivalry for solar resources, there was plenty of sunlight for both.

The orange-yellow rounded top of the Carolina ash stands out in the arboretum's landscape. The tree-top to the left belongs to a swamp white oak (Quercus michauxii), which was planted at the same time as the Carolina ash.

Following the pretty orange leaves down to the ground, we can notice how straight this ash tree is. It has grown in tough competition that has resulted in heavy shade on the ground.

This Carolina ash is doing marvelously at the bottom of a hill along the arboretum drainage. This area gets a lot of water, but doesn't experience flooding.

This tree has a very straight trunk with the leaves way up top, out of reach.

There are still some green leaves mixed in with the fall foliage.

Zooming in on those few remaining green leaves, we see that they are pinnately compound with 5 to 7 leaflets.

On the ground we can find only leaf parts. Here we have a rachis with two remaining yellow-orange leaflets. These leaflets have smooth edges which isn't common for the species.