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Fraxinus griffithii C. B. Clarke

Modern name

Fraxinus griffithii C.B.Clarke

Synonyms

F. bracteata Hemsl.

A tree of the Ornus group; young shoots glabrous, four-angled, bright green. Leaves variable in size; on young trees 6 to 12 in. long. Leaflets five to eleven, ovate, wedge-shaped or rounded at the base, tapered at the apex to a bluntish point, very variable in size, ordinarily 1 to 3 in. long (but sometimes 5 in.), about half as wide, not toothed, deep polished green, perfectly glabrous, and with impressed veins above, paler and glabrous beneath. The main leaf-stalk has an even, well-defined groove above; terminal leaflet long-stalked, the others shortly so. Panicles terminal, also borne in the upper leaf-axils; downy, pyramidal, 3 to 6 in. long, with a pair of small oblong bracts at the base of each subdivision. Fruits 1 to 114 in. long, 112 in. wide.

This species was described from a specimen collected by Dr Griffith in the Mishmi Hills of Assam, and is also a native of Upper Burma and the warmer parts of W. and S. China; the same species, or closely allied species, occur in Formosa, the Philippines, and Malaysia. It was introduced by Wilson from W. Hupeh in 1900, when collecting for Messrs Veitch, but it is doubtful if any of the trees raised from these seeds have survived. This ash is very distinct in its square branchlets and glabrous, shining, entire leaflets, the largest of which resemble the leaf of Ligustrum lucidum.


Genus

Fraxinus

Other species in the genus