Southern Wetland Flora
Field Office Guide to Plant Species
Fraxinus caroliniana Mill.
- Family: Ash (Oleaceae)
- Flowering: May
- Field Marks: This ash is distinguished by its flat fruits which are winged all the way to the base.
- Habitat: Low pinelands, flatwoods, swamps, along streams, sloughs, oxbows, edges of ponds, often in standing water for a portion of the year.
- Habit: Tree up to 39 feet tall; trunk diameter up to 12 inches.
- Twigs: Gray to brown, hairy at first, usually smooth at maturity.
- Leaves: Opposite, pinnately compound, usually with 5 or 7 leaflets; leaflets lanceolate to elliptic to ovate, pointed at the tip, tapering to the sometimes asymmetrical base, irregularly toothed or without teeth, smooth on the upper surface, smooth or short-hairy on the lower surface, up to 5 inches long, up to 2 1/2 inches wide.
- Flowers: Male and female flowers borne separately and on different trees in clusters.
- Sepals: Minute.
- Petals: 0.
- Stamens: 2.
- Pistils: Ovary superior.
- Fruits: Samaras flat, winged all the way to the base, oblong to oblanceolate to elliptic, smooth, up to 2 inches long, up to 3/4 inch wide.
- Notes: The fruits are sometimes 3-winged.
Previous Species -- American Strawberry-bush (Euonymus americanus)
Return to Species List -- Group 5
Next Species -- Pumpkin Ash (Fraxinus profunda)
