Pumpkin ash

Description

Fraxinus profunda, the pumpkin ash, is a species of Fraxinus (ash) native to eastern North America, primarily in the United States, with a scattered distribution on the Atlantic coastal plain and interior lowland river valleys from southern Maryland northwest to Indiana, southeast to northern Florida, and southwest to southeastern Missouri to Louisiana, and also locally in the extreme south of Canada in Essex County, Ontario.The pumpkin ash tree is native to swampland areas. It is a tree that is very important environmentally and economically. Currently, Fraxinus profunda is threatened by the emerald ash borer which is threatening all species of ash trees in North America. The fruits of the pumpkin ash tree are also the largest of all ash trees in eastern North America. Fraxinus profunda is a wetland and swamp tree. These wetland and swamp areas include land types such as tidal estuary swamps, depressions in coastal plains, floodplain flats, and coastal marshes. The range of the pumpkin ash tree tends to be discontinuous. Its native range is in the swamps and river bottoms as far south as northern Florida, and along the east coast up to southern Virginia. Few pumpkin ash trees can be found in southern parts of Illinois and Indiana, northern parts of Arkansas, and southern parts of Missouri. It has been extirpated from North Carolina, South Carolina, and Florida.