Fraxinus mandschurica

Manchurian ash
Manchurian Ash leaf and bark
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Asterids
Order: Lamiales
Family: Oleaceae
Genus: Fraxinus
Section: Fraxinus sect. Fraxinus
Species:
F. mandshurica
Binomial name
Fraxinus mandshurica

Fraxinus mandshurica, the Manchurian ash, is a species of Fraxinus native to northeastern Asia in northern China (Gansu, Hebei, Heilongjiang, Henan, Hubei, Jilin, Liaoning, Shaanxi, Shanxi), Korea, Japan and southeastern Russia (Sakhalin Island).[1]

It is a medium-sized to large deciduous tree reaching 30 m tall, with a trunk up to 50 cm in diameter. The leaves are 25–40 cm long, pinnate compound, with 7–13 leaflets, the leaflets 5–20 cm long and 2–5 cm broad, subsessile on the leaf rachis, and with a serrated margin. They turn to a golden-yellow in early autumn, and the tree is usually early to change color. The flowers are produced in early spring, before the new leaves, in compact panicles; they are inconspicuous with no petals, and are wind-pollinated. The fruit is a samara comprising a single seed 1–2 cm long with an elongated apical wing 2.5–4 cm long and 5–7 mm broad.[1]

It is closely related to Fraxinus nigra (black ash) from eastern North America, and has been treated as a subspecies or variety of it by some authors, as F. nigra subsp. mandschurica (Rupr.) S.S.Sun, or F. nigra var. mandschurica (Rupr.) Lingelsheim.[1] However, unlike that species, Fraxinus mandshurica is dioecious, with male and female flowers produced on separate individuals.[2]

The spelling of the species name is disputed; some (e.g. the Flora of China[1]) cite mandschurica, while others (e.g. USDA GRIN[3]) cite mandshurica. The original 1857 Russian publication spelled it without the "c".[4]

  1. ^ a b c d Wei Zhi; Peter S. Green. "Fraxinus mandshurica". Flora of China. Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis, MO & Harvard University Herbaria, Cambridge, MA. Retrieved 27 May 2012.
  2. ^ Wallander, Eva (2008). "Systematics of Fraxinus (Oleaceae) and evolution of dioecy". Plant Systematics and Evolution. 273 (1–2): 25–49. doi:10.1007/s00606-008-0005-3. S2CID 24152294.
  3. ^ "Fraxinus mandshurica". Germplasm Resources Information Network. Agricultural Research Service, United States Department of Agriculture. Retrieved 2 January 2018.
  4. ^ Ruprecht, Franz Josef. 1857. Bulletin de la Classe Physico-Mathématique de l'Académie Impériale des Sciences de Saint-Pétersbourg 15: 371.