ash tree
Distinctive features
1. Ash tree bark in older trees have diamond shaped ridges.
2. Seeds grow in clusters and they resemble a bunch of keys and so are called ash keys.
3. An individual seed is paddle shaped.
4. Leaves grow off the stem directly across from each other in sets of 5 to 11.
5. Buds are black.
To remember the distinctive and main features of an ash tree, use the following mnemonic:
Imagine scrabbling around in some volcanic ash and finding a beautiful, sparkling, large diamond (ash tree bark is diamond shaped).
The diamond is so large and beautiful you sell it for a lot of money. The money allows you to indulge in your passion in a big way so you get given a bunch of keys to a new boat docking water sports rowing centre (seeds grow in a cluster called keys).
Outside the boat house is a whole bunch of rowing paddles (individual seeds are paddle shaped). As the new owner you couldn't wait to try out a new 5 rower skulling boat. From above, the rowing boat and cox, who is wearing black, resemble an ash leaf stem (leaves grow directly opposite each other in sets of 5 to 11) (a cox wearing all black from above looks like a black bud on an ash tree).
Main Features of an Ash Tree.
1. Older ash tree bark has a distinctive pattern of interlocking ridges and furrows creating a diamond or net pattern.
2. Ash tree flowers are small, unremarkable greenish or purple (depending on the species) clusters.
Image by RWD and southernnativetrees
3. Ash seeds mature into thin, papery paddle shapes.
Ash keys near Edenderry, Belfast by Albert Bridge, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
4. The leaves of an ash grow out of the stems directly across from each other meaning that the leaves are arranged in pairs along a central stalk. Ash tree stems can have anywhere from 5 to 11 leaflets.
5. The buds of a growing stem are sooty black and are a key identifier. There is one black bud at the end of each shoot.
6. The ash tree.
