Virginia Tech Dendrology

flowering ash Oleaceae Fraxinus ornus L. Listen to the Latin symbol: FROR2
Leaf: Opposite, pinnately compound, 8 to 12 inches long, 5 to 9 ovate, finely serrated leaflets, each up to 4 inches long, shiny green above, paler below with pubescence along the veins.
Flower: Species is monoecious; showy and fragrant; occurring in loose panicles 6 to 8 inches long, with 4 strap-like white petals; appear with the leaves in early spring.
Fruit: Straight, slender single winged samara, 1 inch long, 1/4 inch wide, in hanging clusters, mature in late summer and fall.
Twig: Stout, green- brown, leaf scar semi-circular, buds pubescent, pink/gray-brown.
Bark: Smooth and green-brown to gray-brown, even on older trees.
Form: In Europe, this is a medium-sized tree reaching up to 75 feet tall and 3 feet in diameter forming a rounded crown with a long clear trunk; it is somewhat shorter in cultivation, commonly less than 50 feet tall.
 Looks like: white ash
leaf twig bark form1 map
Additional Range Information: Fraxinus ornus is planted in the USDA hardiness zones shown above and is not known to widely escape cultivaton. Download the full-size PDF map.
External Links: USDA Plants Database
All material © 2019 Virginia Tech Dept. of Forest Resources and Environmental Conservation; Photos and text by: John Seiler, Edward Jensen, Alex Niemiera, and John Peterson; Silvics reprinted from Ag Handbook 654; range map source information