Fraxinus spaethiana Lingelsh.

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Credits

Article from Bean's Trees and Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles

Recommended citation
'Fraxinus spaethiana' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/fraxinus/fraxinus-spaethiana/). Accessed 2024-03-19.

Synonyms

  • F. serratifolia Hort., not Michx.
  • F. sieboldiana of some authors, not Bl.
  • F. platypoda sensu Dallim. in Kew Hand-list 1902, not Oliver
  • F. stenocarpa smsu Rehd., not Koidz.

Glossary

acuminate
Narrowing gradually to a point.
apex
(pl. apices) Tip. apical At the apex.
calyx
(pl. calyces) Outer whorl of the perianth. Composed of several sepals.
glabrous
Lacking hairs smooth. glabrescent Becoming hairless.
included
(botanical) Contained within another part or organ.
lanceolate
Lance-shaped; broadest in middle tapering to point.
leaflet
Leaf-like segment of a compound leaf.
petiole
Leaf stalk.
section
(sect.) Subdivision of a genus.
synonym
(syn.) (botanical) An alternative or former name for a taxon usually considered to be invalid (often given in brackets). Synonyms arise when a taxon has been described more than once (the prior name usually being the one accepted as correct) or if an article of the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature has been contravened requiring the publishing of a new name. Developments in taxonomic thought may be reflected in an increasing list of synonyms as generic or specific concepts change over time.

References

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Credits

Article from Bean's Trees and Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles

Recommended citation
'Fraxinus spaethiana' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/fraxinus/fraxinus-spaethiana/). Accessed 2024-03-19.

A tall tree in Japan but so far not over 40 ft high in Britain; young shoots shining, grey or yellowish brown. Leaves up to 112 ft long, with seven or nine (sometimes five) leaflets, which are rather leathery in texture, vivid green and glabrous above, paler and with a few scattered hairs beneath, rather coarsely irregularly round-toothed, shortly acuminate at the apex; the terminal leaflet is narrowly obovate, usually 6 to 612 in. long (but occasionally up to 8 in. long), 214 in. wide, the upper lateral leaflets almost as long, but narrower, forward-pointing, the lowermost pair always much shorter than the others; petiole slightly grooved, very much swollen at the base. Flowers in glabrous panicles from the scars of the previous year’s leaves; petals absent; calyx cup-shaped. Fruits broadly lanceolate, 158 in. long, usually narrowed at both ends.

Native of Japan; in cultivation at Kew in 1880 as “F. serratifolia”, but the trees now in the collection came from Späth’s nursery, one in 1896 as “F. serratifolia” and two in 1908 under their correct name; these trees are all grafted and undoubtedly derive from the tree in Späth’s nurseries from which Lingelsheim described the species in 1907. It is said to make a tall tree in its native habitat but the oldest tree at Kew, although more than seventy years planted, measures only 36 × 4 ft (1969). The species is very rare in cultivation but represented at East Bergholt Manor, Suffolk; Borde Hill, Sussex; and Lanarth, Cornwall. Few ashes have more handsome foliage than this, or of a more vivid green. The enlarged bases of the leaf-stalks are also seen in F. paxiana, but that species belongs to the section Ornus, in which the flowers are borne at the ends of leafy shoots of the current season’s growth. Before its flowers had been seen F. spaethiana was also erroneously placed in this section; in fact it belongs to section Fraxinus subsection Melioides, and is one of the few members of this sub-section found in E. Asia. It appears to be allied to F. platypoda.

From the Supplement (Vol. V)

With regard to the synonym F. platypoda sensu Dallim. in Kew Hand-list 1902, not Oliver, it should be added that F. spaethiana is in fact closely allied to F. platypoda Oliver, and included in it by T. Nakaike (op. cit., pp. 500, 503). But certain differences were pointed out under F. platypoda.

Two of the Kew specimens of F. spaethiana, pl. 1908, measure 36 × 3 ft and 31 × 2 ft (1984) and there are others at Talbot Manor, Norfolk, 31 × 112 ft (1978); and the National Botanic Garden, Glasnevin, Eire, pl. 1911, 33 × 214 ft (1974).