Fraxinus texensis (A. Gray) Sarg.

A tree rarely 50 ft high in nature; young shoots finely downy at first, soon glabrous, light brown by the autumn, darkening to deep brown. Leaflets usually five, sometimes seven, 1 to 3 in. long, 3⁄4 to 2 in. wide, oval or ovate, the terminal one sometimes obovate, rounded or acute, sometimes abruptly acuminate at the apex, tapered or rounded at the base, coarsely but shallowly toothed, thick, dark green and glabrous above, pale and downy in the axils of the veins beneath; stalks of the lateral leaflets 1⁄4 to 1⁄2 in. long, that of the terminal one up to 1 in. long. Fruits as in F. americana, but not much exceeding 1 in. in length.

Native of limestone districts in Texas; discovered by Dr Bigelow in 1852. It is closely allied to F. americana, but has thicker, broader leaflets, mostly rounded or acute at the apex and usually five to each leaf; the fruits are also smaller. The remarkable thickness of the leaves of this species is well shown by the specimen in the Ash collection at Kew.

Miss Miller (op. cit., p. 36) has pointed out that there has been a confusion between this ash and F. americana var. microcarpa (q.v.) and that the F. albicans Buckl. and the F. americana var. albicans (Buckl.) Lingelsh. are a mixture of the two.

From the Supplement (Vol. V)

The tree at Kew in the Ash Collection measures 80 × 61⁄2 ft (1984).