MORE ON IDENTIFYING ASH TREES IN WINTER

LARGE OLD WHITE ASH

ASH SEEDS (SAMARAS)...

...DITTO

WHITE ASH BARK

Saturday, 9:00 AM.  13 degrees F, wind SSE, light.  The sky is again overcast,  it is snowing very lightly and I scraped about 1" from drives and walkways this morning.  The humidity is 82%, the barometer steady at 30.35".
   We had to go to Ashland late yesterday afternoon, and the road conditions suddenly became very treacherous.  I negotiated the new roundabout at the intersection of Hwys. 13 and US2 carefully, and watched in the rearview mirror as the little vehicle behind me did two complete doughnuts coming out of the circle.  light, short-whelebased front wheel drive cars are prone to spinouts and ditch surfing up here, although one can get into trouble even with a larger four-wheel drive vehicle unless constantly alert.
   Rather than add photos to yesterday's post I will continue with winter identification of ash trees today.
The top photo above is of a white ash about fifty years old; note that it has beome much more open and less regular in shape as it has aged.
   The seeds (winged nutlets called samaras) of ash trees are quite distinctive, having one wing for aid in dispersal by the wind.   Ash species have separate male and female trees. Approximately half of the trees in the wild bear male flowers and the other half female flowers (horticultural selections of ash trees, such as 'Marshal's Seedless Ash 'are often male trees, to eliminate the seeds).   Seeds often persist on female trees well into the winter, which is another good identification clue.
   The bark of ash trees can also be quite distinctive, the above photo being of the bark of a white ash street tree, the diameter of which is about eight inches at breast height.  Note the evenly furrowed bark, which will become more deeply furrowed and darker in color as the tree ages.
   Have you seen the rapper video, imitating the President, which the Administration is using to entice young folks to sign up for Obamacare?  I thought the image of the presidency had reached its nadir when Bill Clinton put on sunglasses and played (sort of) the saxophone on Saturday Night Live, but this makes that embarrassing episode pale into insignificance.  It is like a modern parody of what went on in the Georgia statehouse during reconstruction, after the Civil War.  I am embarrassed for my country.  The rest of the world, being somewhat more sane and a bit more dignified than we are, must think us all buffoons.