Fraxinus caroliniana Mill.

Carolina Ash; Water Ash; Pop Ash

Tree

Perennial

Vascular

Carolina Ash is a native deciduous tree in the Olive family (Oleaceae). It occurs in the southern two-thirds of Alabama. Carolina Ash occurs on river and stream banks, in alluvial woods and swamps, and around pond margins. It often grows in shallow standing water. It is a medium sized tree or large shrub, growing to 30 feet in height. It often has multiple trunks with swollen bases. Young branches are round in cross section, greenish-brown in color, and slightly pubescent. Older shoots are grey in color. Twigs are slightly flattened and swollen at the nodes and have scattered roundish white lenticels. The trunk has grey bark furrowed into shallow fissures and long narrow ridges. Leaves are opposite, petiolate, and odd pinnate with 5-7 leaflets. The leaflets are lanceolate to elliptic or oblong in outline, glabrous or sparsely pubescent, with shallowly serrate or crenate margins. The leaves are dark green above and lighter green or whitish below. Carolina Ash is dioecious, with separate male and female plants. The inconspicuous flowers lack petals and appear before the leaves. They are produced in drooping panicles from the axils of the old leaf scars. The fruit is a flattened samara that is elliptic to obovate in outline and often reddish in color. The samara is sometimes 3-angled and is winged to the base. Carolina ash is a small, crooked tree with limited commercial importance. The wood is lighter and softer wood than other ashes, and it is used mainly for pulp or sometimes for the construction of guitar bodies. Carolina Ash is a larval food plant for the Eastern tiger swallowtail butterfly (Papilio polyxenes).—A. Diamond.

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Native OBL (NWPL)

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