Plant · P-1002

Green Ash

Fraxinus pennsylvanica

Green ash is a fast-growing deciduous tree of floodplains, streambanks and bottomland forests across a wide range of North America, developing a pyramidal crown when young that rounds out into an irregular, spreading canopy at maturity. Its compound leaves turn yellow in autumn, and drooping clusters of winged seeds follow inconspicuous spring flowers on female trees. It tolerates wet, compacted and average soils better than most shade trees, but populations across its range have been devastated by the introduced emerald ash borer, which has killed the great majority of mature trees wherever it has spread.