Fraxinus oxycarpa
European ash
Fraxinus rotundifolia desert ash
Mediterranean, SW Asia
Habit: Tree to 20m or more, crown dense and rounded, leafy in spring to autumn. Leafless in winter.
Leaves: usually 5 or 7 but up to 13 leaflets, arranged in pairs along
a common stalk which ends in a leaflet. Leaflets bright green, thin, hairless, pointed
with toothed edges.
Flowers: green and purple-brown, small not showy. Seperate male and
female trees, Wind pollinated, Flowers in spring before leaves appear.
Fruits: flat, slightly twisted 3-4 cm long, narrow in clusters on
drooping stalks. Fibrous, tough green at first becoming brown. Looks like a dry leaf when
ripe, with a single seed.
Roots: woody, spreading with a taproot, will sucker strongly.
Spread: Hardy street tree, also planted in gardens. Spread into open vegetation, especially along water courses, in the Lofty Ranges, Spreds by seed and suckering of roots. Winged seeds spread by wind and water.
Exotic
species of trees such as the DesertAsh affect the quality of fresh water
entering the sea from rivers and streams. Deciduous exotics drop a large
quantity of leaves all at once in Autumn which contributes to problems such
as less oxygen and light and more
nutrients in the water which, as it reaches Gulf St Vincent and the seagrass
beds, causes algal growth which, in turn, inhibits the regeneration of this
Leafy Seadragon habitat.
Indigenous
species, on the other hand, drop a continuous but small amount of leaf
material
through out the year, causing less of a problem.