Fraxinus Excelsior; Ash

A large deciduous tree with a straight trunk and a high, open, domed crown. They grow up to about 40m tall. It grows well in limestone uplands, but also thrives on heavy base-rich clays. Woodland trees have the best shape whereas in hedgerows seem to have stunted growth or are misshapen.

The branches are mostly ascending ending with flattened grey twigs tipped with sooty black buds at the tips. 

The leaves are pinnate and up to 35cm long with a flattened stem that may be hairy bearing 7-13 ovate-lanceolate and toothed leaflets, each up to about 12cm long. leaves are among the latest to open in spring of any native tree.

The bark is smooth and grey in younger trees but as it matures it gets vertical fissures and the true colour is normally obscured by large colonies of lichens.