Manna ash

Description

Fraxinus ornus, the manna ash or South European flowering ash, is a species of Fraxinus native to southern Europe and southwestern Asia, from Spain and Italy north to Austria and the Czech Republic, and east through the Balkans, Turkey, and western Syria to Lebanon and Armenia. Fraxinus ornus is a medium-sized deciduous tree growing to 15–25 m (49–82 ft) tall with a trunk up to 1 m diameter. The bark is dark grey, remaining smooth even on old trees. The buds are pale pinkish-brown to grey-brown, with a dense covering of short grey hairs. The leaves are in opposite pairs, pinnate, 20–30 cm (7.9–12 in) long, with 5 to 9 leaflets; the leaflets are broad ovoid, 5–10 mm (0.2–0.4 in) long and 2–4 cm (0.8–2 in) broad, with a finely serrated and wavy margin, and short but distinct petiolules 5–15 mm (0.20–0.59 in) long; the autumn colour is variable, yellow to purplish. The flowers are produced in dense panicles 10–20 cm (3.9–7.9 in) long after the new leaves appear in late spring, each flower with four slender creamy white petals 5–6 mm (0.20–0.24 in) long; they are pollinated by insects. The fruit is a slender samara 1.5–2.5 cm (0.59–0.98 in) long, the seed 2 mm (0.08 in) broad and the wing 4–5 mm (0.2–0.2 in) broad, green ripening brown.