Plant · P-1003

Texas Ash

Fraxinus albicans

Texas ash is a smaller, more compact relative of green ash, native to limestone hills and canyons of the southern Great Plains and northern Mexico, where it grows a rounded crown of glossy compound leaves that turn burgundy to purple in autumn. Clusters of winged seeds follow small spring flowers on female trees, feeding birds and small mammals through fall and winter. It thrives on shallow, rocky, alkaline soil and tolerates drought far better than most ash species, but like its relatives it is vulnerable to the introduced emerald ash borer.