Virginia Tech Dendrology

Gooding ash Oleaceae Fraxinus gooddingii Little symbol: FRGO
Leaf: Opposite, evergreen or tardily deciduous, pinnately compound, 7 to 11 sessile leaflets (each 1/4 to 1/2 inch long), entire or partially serrated margins, small leaves only 1 to 3 inches long, shiny green color above and paler, dull and a bit fuzzy below.
Flower: Species is dioecious; small and inconspicuous, males purple to yellow-green, females yellow-green, both are borne in small clusters before the leaves.
Fruit: Single wing, straight samara, 1/2 to 1 inch long, flat seed, broad wing with a round tip, mature in early summer.
Twig: Slender for an ash, reddish brown often with an abundance of gray wooly hairs, leaf scars raised, buds fuzzy.
Bark: Light gray-brown with very shallow fissures and splits, overall staying quite smooth.
Form: A shrub or small tree, reaching up to 20 feet in height (largest at 30 feet), often multistemmed.
Looks like: Arizona ash - two-petal ash - Oregon ash

Additional Range Information: Fraxinus gooddingii is native to North America. Range may be expanded by planting. Download the full-size PDF map.
External Links: USDA Plants Database - USDAFS Forest Products Lab
All material 2021 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