Prickly ash

Images

Click on image to view full size

Prickly ash

Prickly ash pistillate flowers

Prickly ash buds

Prickly ash

Prickly ash

Prickly ash fruit

Prickly ash staminate flowers

Prickly ash pistillate flowers

Prickly ash

Prickly ash fruit

Prickly ash

Prickly ash bud and leaf scar

Prickly ash fruit

Prickly ash fruit

Morphology

Trunk

Single, usually branched above middle, occasionally with branches near ground; crown irregular; bark dark-brown with light blotches, slightly furrowed on old trunks.

Twigs

Rigid, glabrous, dark brown; usually 2 prickles at each node; prickles flat, broad-based, curved downward; leaf scars crescent-shaped or half-round; bundle scars 3; buds small, spherical, covered with red woolly hairs.

Leaves

Alternate, odd pinnately-compound, deciduous, 2 to 10 inches long, aromatic; stalk about 1.2 inch long, pubescent; leaflets 5-11, nearly sessile, egg-shaped, 1.2 to 2.4 inches long, 3/5 to 1.2 inch wide; upper surface dark green, slightly rough, glandular-dotted; lower surface paler, veins pubescent; margin entire or finely toothed; tip abruptly pointed; base rounded or blunt.

Flowers

Before leaves, inconspicuous, dioecious (male and female flowers on separate trees); staminate flowers in clusters of 2-10; stalk 1/8 to 1/6 inch long; calyx absent; petals 4-6, egg-shaped, 1/12 to 1/10 inch long, green; tip with red fringe; stamens 5-6; anthers small, yellow; pistillate flowers 2-10, in umbel-like clusters; stalks 1/8 to 1/6 inch long, calyx absent; petals similar to staminate; pistils 2-5; styles 1/12 inch long, green; stigmas spherical, green.

Fruit

July-August; dense clusters; stalk 1/10 inch long; spherical, fleshy, about 1/5 inch in diameter, red, surface pitted, strongly spice-scented; seed oval, about 1/6 inch long, glossy black, finely pitted.

Ecology

Habitat

Rocky hillsides, open woods, woodland edges, roadsides, prairie ravine thickets; usually in calcareous soils.

Distribution

East 3/5 of Kansas

Practical Information

Uses

Native Americans steeped the bark and used the liquid as a wash for itching; took it for colds, fevers, and coughs; and rubbed on dog noses to enhance their scent. The inner bark was pounded and chewed, smoked, or packed around a tooth for toothaches. A poultice of crushed inner bark was applied for rheumatism. Young men sometimes used the fruits as perfume.

Additional Notes