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Ashes and the Fringe Tree — Part 4

This tree grows in deep river swamps in southeastern Missouri and eastern Arkansas, and also in western Florida along the Appalachicola River. It will probably be found in swamps intermediate between these two regions. It has only been discovered and named within the past eight years. Mr. Bush found it first in 1893, and four years later gave it a name, profunda, which probably refers to the almost bottomless bayous in which it often grows. The common name, pumpkin ash, refers to the bulging and ridged or buttressed base of the tree from which the straight trunk rises. This is a character shared by other trees (the tupelos, for instance,) that grow in land subject to inundation.

The Water, or Swamp Ash (F. Caroliniana, Mill.) grows to 40 feet high in swampy lands skirting the coast from Virginia to middle Florida, and west to the Sabine River in Texas. It follows the deep river swamps of the Mississippi north to Arkansas. It is as well that the white wood of this tree has less value than that of the other ashes, for it grows in inaccessible places. The leaves are small, and the little seeds have exceptionally broad wings.