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Wildlife, Animals, and Plants
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Introductory
SPECIES: Fraxinus nigra | Black Ash
ABBREVIATION :
FRANIG
SYNONYMS :
NO-ENTRY
SCS PLANT CODE :
FRNI
COMMON NAMES :
black ash
TAXONOMY :
The currently accepted scientific name for black ash is Fraxinus nigra
Marsh. [26]. There are no recognized subspecies, varieties, or forms.
LIFE FORM :
Tree
FEDERAL LEGAL STATUS :
No special status
OTHER STATUS :
NO-ENTRY
COMPILED BY AND DATE :
Milo Coladonato, February 1994
LAST REVISED BY AND DATE :
NO-ENTRY
AUTHORSHIP AND CITATION :
Coladonato, Milo 1994. Fraxinus nigra. In: Remainder of Citation
DISTRIBUTION AND OCCURRENCE
SPECIES: Fraxinus nigra | Black Ash
GENERAL DISTRIBUTION :
Black ash ranges from western Newfoundland west to southeastern Manitoba
and eastern North Dakota; south to Iowa; east to southern Indiana, Ohio,
and West Virginia; and north from northern Virginia to Delaware and New
Jersey [6,17,30,37].
ECOSYSTEMS :
FRES10 White - red - jack pine
FRES11 Spruce - fir
FRES15 Oak - hickory
FRES17 Elm - ash - cottonwood
FRES18 Maple - beech - birch
FRES19 Aspen - birch
STATES :
CT DE IL IN IA KY ME MD MA MI
MN NH NJ NY ND OH PA RI VT VA
WV WI MB NB NF NS ON PE PQ
ADMINISTRATIVE UNITS :
ACAD APIS CATO CUVA DEWA EFMO
INDU ISRO MACA MORR PIRO SHEN
SLBE VOYA
BLM PHYSIOGRAPHIC REGIONS :
NO-ENTRY
KUCHLER PLANT ASSOCIATIONS :
K081 Oak savanna
K082 Mosaic of K074 and K100
K093 Great Lakes spruce - fir forest
K094 Conifer bog
K095 Great Lakes pine forest
K096 Northeastern spruce - fir forest
K099 Maple - basswood forest
K100 Oak - hickory forest
K101 Elm - ash forest
K102 Beech - maple forest
K104 Appalachian oak forest
K106 Northern hardwoods
K107 Northern hardwoods - fir forest
K108 Northern hardwoods - spruce forest
SAF COVER TYPES :
1 Jack pine
5 Balsam fir
12 Black spruce
15 Red pine
16 Aspen
17 Pin cherry
24 Hemlock - yellow birch
25 Sugar maple - beech - yellow birch
26 Sugar maple - basswood
27 Sugar maple
33 Red spruce - balsam fir
35 Paper birch - red spruce - balsam fir
37 Northern white-cedar
38 Tamarack
39 Black ash - American elm - red maple
SRM (RANGELAND) COVER TYPES :
NO-ENTRY
HABITAT TYPES AND PLANT COMMUNITIES :
Black ash is a major hardwood type on lowlands in the northern Great
Lake States along with American elm (Ulmus americana) and red maple
(Acer rubrum) [13]. Black ash is also a common component in the
beech-maple (Fagus-Acer spp.) climax community [35]. It is typically a
seral species with black spruce (Picea mariana) in bogs or where there
is excess water [36]. Black ash is a dominant species in northern
Wisconsin and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan [13]. Black ash is a
principle plant associate in the Hardwood Canadian Forest in the Saint
Lawrence Valley [12]. In the uplands of Michigan and Wisconsin, black
ash mingles with white ash, red maple, yellow birch (Betula
alleghaniensis), American basswood (Tilia americana), and sugar maple
(Acer saccharum) [13,18].
Common understory associates of black ash include speckled alder (Alnus
rugosa), red-osier dogwood (Cornus sericea), bog-laurel (Kalmia
polifolia), Labrador-tea (Ledum groenlandicum), poison-sumac
(Toxicodendron vernix), willows (Salix spp.), low sweet blueberry
(Vaccinum angustifolium), highbush blueberry (V. corymbosum), small
cranberry (V. oxycoccus), and common winterberry (Ilex verticillata)
[15,22,23,29].
VALUE AND USE
SPECIES: Fraxinus nigra | Black Ash
WOOD PRODUCTS VALUE :
Black ash wood is not as strong nor as hard as that of other ashes. It
is used for interior finishing, furniture, and cabinets [21].
IMPORTANCE TO LIVESTOCK AND WILDLIFE :
Black ash twigs and leaves provide spring and summer browse for
white-tailed deer and moose [11,19]. The seeds are an important food
for game birds, songbirds, and small mammals [37].
PALATABILITY :
NO-ENTRY
NUTRITIONAL VALUE :
NO-ENTRY
COVER VALUE :
NO-ENTRY
VALUE FOR REHABILITATION OF DISTURBED SITES :
NO-ENTRY
OTHER USES AND VALUES :
NO-ENTRY
MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS :
Black ash grows very slowly on organic peats and mucks, attaining
heights of only 30 to 45 feet (9-13 m) at 50 years and 50 to 60 feet
(15-18 m) at 100 years. The best trees average only 10 inches (25 cm)
d.b.h. at 110 years and 12 inches (30 cm) at 130 years. Black ash
seedlings, saplings, and sprouts tend to dominate the regeneration layer
where partial openings in the canopy have occurred. Clearcutting often
results in inadequate natural regeneration of black ash or loss of
advanced regeneration because of rising water tables or increased
competition with grass and brush. Clearcuts are often winter habitat;
deer browse heavily on black ash seedlings and stump sprouts [13].
Most swamp hardwood stands contain many defective and diseased trees.
Many unmanaged, fully stocked hardwood stands contain no desirable
advanced black ash regeneration. Trees on wet sites are shallowly
rooted and subject to windthrow [13].
BOTANICAL AND ECOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS
SPECIES: Fraxinus nigra | Black Ash
GENERAL BOTANICAL CHARACTERISTICS :
Black ash is a small, native, deciduous tree ranging from 40 to 60 feet
(12-18 m) in height. The tree has coarse ascending branches and a
slender, sometimes bent or leaning trunk which extends almost to the top
of a narrow crown. The compound leaves are 10 to 16 inches (25-40 cm)
long. Black ash is polygamous; its flowers are small and inconspicuous
[37]. The bark is shallowly fissured and divided into large irregular
plates with thin, soft, papery scales that rub off easily. The fruit is
an elongated, winged, single-seeded samara that is borne in terminal or
axillary clusters. Black ash has a shallow, wide-spreading root system
[8,9,21].
RAUNKIAER LIFE FORM :
Phanerophyte
REGENERATION PROCESSES :
Black ash regenerates through sexual and vegetative reproduction. Good
seed crops occur at 1- to 8-year intervals with most intervening years
having poor seed crops [13,34].
Germination: Black ash produces an abundance of seed [4]. The seed
contains a dormant embryo that requires stratification and a period of
cold temperatures for good germination. Before embryos germinate, they
must grow from about one-half to two-thirds the length of the seed, so
most black ash seed do not germinate until the second spring after
seedfall. Some seed may lie dormant in the litter for up to 8 years
[13].
Seedling development: Black ash seed is capable of germinating in
hardwood leaf litter or under 0.25- to 0.75-inch (0.6-1.8 cm) of soil;
however, grass, brush, and advance hardwood reproduction must be
controlled for successful black ash seedling establishment. Germinants
are about 2 inches (5 cm) tall within 2 weeks. Under the best
conditions they may average 6 inches (15 cm) in height by the end of
their first growing season [13]. Black ash seedlings often grow more
slowly than seedlings of associated species such as American elm and red
maple [37].
Vegetative Reproduction: Black ash sprouts readily from stumps up to 12
inches (30 cm) in diameter. Sprouts originate from adventitious buds on
the sides of the stump and at the root crown. Stump sprouts can
exhibit fast growth. Black ash will also root sucker [13].
SITE CHARACTERISTICS :
Black ash is most commonly found growing in moist to wet muck or shallow
organic soils. It is found in swamps, along small streams in gullies,
and in small poorly drained depressions [25,37]. It also grows on fine
sands and loams underlain by clays and on other poorly drained sites
with high water tables. In uplands black ash is restricted to sites
with impeded drainage, where it grows on wetter than normal mineral soils
[5,13].
SUCCESSIONAL STATUS :
Facultative Seral Species
In the Great Lake States black ash is a pioneer. It is also present but
not abundant in mature forests dominated by elm (Ulmus spp.), cedar
(Thuja spp.), larch (Larix spp.), spruce (Picea spp.), fir (Abies spp.),
and birch (Betula spp.) [1,10]. It is an invader species in sedge
meadows in southern Wisconsin [28]. In northeastern Minnesota, black
ash seedlings invade open areas in maple-beech forests [7].
Black ash is shade intolerant [37].
SEASONAL DEVELOPMENT :
The flowers of black ash appear in May or June, concurrent with or just
before the leaves [37]. The fruits ripen from June to September and are
dispersed from July to October [34,35].
FIRE ECOLOGY
SPECIES: Fraxinus nigra | Black Ash
FIRE ECOLOGY OR ADAPTATIONS :
Black ash is easily damaged by fire [2,33].
Prior to 1871 in Quebec, ash forests containing black ash and American
elm burned in mostly stand-replacing fires, with a fire cycle of about
63 years [2].
In northwestern Minnesota and west-central Canada, fires swept into
boreal forests from open prairies, killing black ash and other
fire-sensitive species [20].
Little information is available concerning black ash fire survival
strategies. It probably survives fire by sprouting and colonizes burned
sites through wind-dispersed seed.
POSTFIRE REGENERATION STRATEGY :
Tree with adventitious-bud root crown/soboliferous species root sucker
Initial-offsite colonizer (off-site, initial community)
FIRE EFFECTS
SPECIES: Fraxinus nigra | Black Ash
IMMEDIATE FIRE EFFECT ON PLANT :
Depending on fire severity, black ash is probably killed or top-killed by
fire.
DISCUSSION AND QUALIFICATION OF FIRE EFFECT :
NO-ENTRY
PLANT RESPONSE TO FIRE :
Black ash probably sprouts from the root crown following top-damage from
fire. It is also probable that this tree, a prolific seeder,
regenerates from seed [4].
DISCUSSION AND QUALIFICATION OF PLANT RESPONSE :
NO-ENTRY
FIRE MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS :
Fire suppression has allowed the invasion of black ash into sedge
meadows in southern Wisconsin [28].
REFERENCES
SPECIES: Fraxinus nigra | Black Ash
REFERENCES :
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Index
Related categories for Species: Fraxinus nigra
| Black Ash
|
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