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Ash seeds

 

 

The hanging winged fruits, or samaras, of the ash are up to five centimetres long, the brown seed within it makes up half the length. The fruits ripened in September-October but mostly remain on the trees until early Spring. A part of our winter birds use ash fruits for food. The ash is a wind-propagated plant, the seeds fall  to the ground whirling and reminding of the rotation of a helicopter – similar to maple seeds.

 

The jet black buds are  a characteristic of bare ashes: they are placed opposite each other on the straight greenish-grey shoots. The tip bud is larger and the side buds rounded cone shapes, quite well visible in Arne’s photo.

 

The bark of a young tree is smooth, greyish-green in colour. Only at higher age the bark on the trunk changes into a greyish crust, the lower branches of the crown wither and the trunk becomes branchless. The crown of an older tree, majestic and at the moment leafless and transparent, consists of the older, thick and downward curved branches and their strong shoots stretching towards the sky.