Fraxinus

The tree's common English name, "ash", traces back to the Old English æsc, which relates to the proto-Indo-European for the tree, while the generic name originated in Latin from a proto-Indo-European word for birch. Both words are also used to mean "spear" in their respective languages, as the wood is good for shafts.[10]

Species are arranged into sections supported by phylogenetic analysis:[11][12]

Section Dipetalae

• Fraxinus anomala Torr. ex S.Watson – singleleaf ash
• Fraxinus dipetala Hook. & Arn. – California ash or two-petal ash
• Fraxinus quadrangulata Michx. – blue ash
• Fraxinus trifoliata

Section Fraxinus

• Fraxinus angustifolia Vahl – narrow-leafed ash
  • Fraxinus angustifolia subsp. oxycarpa – Caucasian ash
  • Fraxinus angustifolia subsp. syriaca
• Fraxinus excelsior L. – European ash
• Fraxinus holotricha Koehne
• Fraxinus mandshurica Rupr. – Manchurian ash
• Fraxinus nigra Marshall – black ash
• Fraxinus pallisiae Wilmott – Pallis' ash
• Fraxinus sogdiana Bge

Section Melioides sensu lato

• Fraxinus chiisanensis
• Fraxinus cuspidata Torr. – fragrant ash
• Fraxinus platypoda
• Fraxinus spaethiana Lingelsh. – Späth's ash

Section Melioides sensu stricto

• Fraxinus albicans Buckley – Texas ash
• Fraxinus americana L. – white ash or American ash
• Fraxinus berlandieriana DC. – Mexican ash
• Fraxinus caroliniana Mill. – Carolina ash
• Fraxinus latifolia Benth. – Oregon ash
• Fraxinus papillosa Lingelsh. – Chihuahua ash
• Fraxinus pennsylvanica Marshall – green ash
• Fraxinus profunda (Bush) Bush – pumpkin ash
• Fraxinus uhdei (Wenz.) Lingelsh. – Shamel ash or tropical ash
• Fraxinus velutina Torr. – velvet ash or Arizona ash

Section Ornus

• Fraxinus apertisquamifera
• Fraxinus baroniana
• Fraxinus bungeana DC. – Bunge's ash
• Fraxinus chinensis Roxb. – Chinese ash or Korean ash
• Fraxinus floribunda Wall. – Himalayan manna ash
• Fraxinus griffithii C.B.Clarke – Griffith's ash
• Fraxinus japonica – Japanese ash
• Fraxinus lanuginosa – Japanese ash
• Fraxinus longicuspis
• Fraxinus malacophylla
• Fraxinus micrantha Lingelsh.
• Fraxinus ornus L. – manna ash or flowering ash
• Fraxinus paxiana Lingelsh.
• Fraxinus sieboldiana Blume – Japanese flowering ash

Section Pauciflorae

• Fraxinus dubia
• Fraxinus gooddingii – Goodding's ash
• Fraxinus greggii A.Gray – Gregg's ash
• Fraxinus purpusii
• Fraxinus rufescens

Section Sciadanthus

• Fraxinus dimorpha
• Fraxinus hubeiensis Ch'u & Shang & Su – 湖北梣 hu bei qin
• Fraxinus xanthoxyloides (G.Don) Wall. ex DC. – Afghan ash[13][14]

• 
  Closeup of European ash seeds
• 
  F. ornus
• 
  Unusual "treelets" growing from a fallen ash tree in Lawthorn Wood, Ayrshire, Scotland

North American native ash tree species are a critical food source for North American frogs, as their fallen leaves are particularly suitable for tadpoles to feed upon in ponds (both temporary and permanent), large puddles, and other water bodies.[15] Lack of tannins in the American ash makes their leaves a good food source for the frogs, but also reduces its resistance to the ash borer. Species with higher leaf tannin levels (including maples and non-native ash species) are taking the place of native ash, thanks to their greater resistance to the ash borer. They produce much less suitable food for the tadpoles, resulting in poor survival rates and small frog sizes.[15]

Ash species native to North America also provide important habit and food for various other creatures native to North America. This includes the larvae of multiple long-horn beetles, as well as other insects including those in the genus Tropidosteptes, lace bugs, aphids, larvae of gall flies, and caterpillars. Birds are also interested in black, green, and white ash trees. The black ash alone supports wood ducks, wild turkey, cardinals, pine grosbeaks, cedar waxwings, and yellow-bellied sapsuckers, with habitat and food (such as the sap being of interest to the sapsucker) among others. Many mammalian species from meadow voles eating the seeds, white-tailed deer eating the foliage, to silver-haired bats nesting, will also make use of ash trees. [16][17][18][19]

Ash is used as a food plant by the larvae of some Lepidoptera species (butterflies and moths).

Ash is a hardwood and is hard, dense (within 20% of 670 kg/m³ for Fraxinus americana,[30] and higher at 710 kg/m³ for Fraxinus excelsior[31]), tough and very strong but elastic, extensively used for making bows, tool handles, baseball bats, hurleys, and other uses demanding high strength and resilience.

5/16" thick flame figure quartersawn ash guitar top, unmilled

Ash is a minor material for electric guitar bodies[32] and, less commonly, for acoustic guitar bodies, known for its bright, cutting edge and sustaining quality. Some Fender Stratocasters and Telecasters are made of ash, (such as Bruce Springsteen's Telecaster on the Born to Run album cover), as an alternative to alder. They are also used for making drum shells.

Ash coffee table

Woodworkers generally consider ash a "poor cousin" to the other major open pore wood, oak, but it is useful in any furniture application. Ash veneers are extensively used in office furniture. Ash is not used much outdoors due to the heartwood having a low durability to ground contact, meaning it will typically perish within five years. The F. japonica species is favored as a material for making baseball bats by Japanese sporting-goods manufacturers. [33]

Its robust structure, good looks, and flexibility combine to make ash ideal for staircases. Ash stairs are extremely hard-wearing, which is particularly important for treads. Due to its elasticity, ash can also be steamed and bent to produce curved stair parts such as volutes (curled sections of handrail) and intricately shaped balusters. However, a reduction in the supply of healthy trees, especially in Europe, is making ash an increasingly expensive option.

Ash was commonly used for the structural members of the bodies of cars made by carriage builders. Early cars had frames which were intended to flex as part of the suspension system to simplify construction. The Morgan Motor Company of Great Britain still manufactures sports cars with frames made from ash. It was also widely used by early aviation pioneers for aircraft construction.

It lights and burns easily, so is used for starting fires and barbecues, and is usable for maintaining a fire, though it produces only a moderate heat. The two most economically important species for wood production are white ash, in eastern North America, and European ash in Europe. The green ash (F. pennsylvanica) is widely planted as a street tree in the United States. The inner bark of the blue ash (F. quadrangulata) has been used as a source for blue dye.

In Greek mythology, the Meliae are nymphs associated with the ash, perhaps specifically of the manna ash (Fraxinus ornus), as dryads were nymphs associated with the oak. They appear in Hesiod's Theogony.

In Norse mythology, a vast, evergreen ash tree Yggdrasil ("the steed (gallows) of Odin"), watered by three magical springs, serves as axis mundi, sustaining the nine worlds of the cosmos in its roots and branches. Askr, the first man in Norse myth, literally means 'ash'.[34]

• List of Lepidoptera that feed on ashes
• Æ, the letter ash

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Fraxinus.

Wikispecies has information related to Fraxinus.

• Cofrin Center for Biodiversity Herbarium, University of Wisconsin, Trees of Wisconsin, Fraxinus comparison chart