Trees & Shrubs of the Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden

Notes: White Ash is believed to be indigenous to the Garden as Eloise Butler catalogued it on April 29, 1907. She also planted it in May 1909 with plants obtained from the Park Board Nursery, located at the time, at Glenwood Lake [now named Wirth Lake]. In North America it is found in the Eastern half of the U.S., reaching westward to Minnesota on the north and the central plains further south. In Canada it is found in Ontario, P E Island and Quebec. Within Minnesota it is quite restricted with native populations only known from 14 counties on the eastern side of the state with Mille Lacs and Pine county on the north and Fillmore and Houston on the south. Only three species of ash with known populations are native to Minnesota, White Ash plus Black Ash (F. nigra) and Green Ash (F. pennsylvanica).

Uses: White Ash wood is hard and strong, second only to hickory for use in tool handles, baseball bats and other sports equipment. The wood is used in furniture, boats and other areas where a strong dense wood is desired. It is useful as an ornamental if grown in the open, but it is a slow-grower and has had more pest problems than the Green Ash (ash yellows being the most serious) and with the advent of the Emerald Ash Borer another serious pest is on the scene and the Green Ash is even more severely affected.

Historically: The uses of the tree in early times are explained by Francois Michaux in his three volume work - North American Sylva.
“In large trees the perfect wood [heartwood] is reddish and the sap is white. This wood is highly esteemed for its strength, suppleness and elasticity, and is employed with advantage for a great variety of uses, of which I shall mention only the most common. It is always selected by coach-makers for shafts, for the jellies of wheels, and at New York and Philadelphia for the frame of carriage-bodies; by wheelwrights it is used for sledges and for the handle of wheel-barrows; in the District of Maine it replaces the White Oak for the circular back of Windsor chairs, scythe and rake handles, the hoops of water-pails, the circular piece of butter boxes, sieves and large spinning-wheels, which are manufactured principally at near Boston, are of White Ash; and in Connecticut it is usually preferred for wooden bowls. In the District of Maine it is extensively used for staves, which are of a quality between those of White and those of Red Oak and are esteemed the best for containing salted provisions.
It is admitted also into the lower frame of vessels, but is considered inferior to the Yellow Birch and to the heart of the Red Beech. In all the Atlantic States the blocks used in ships and the pins for attaching the cordage are of Ash, for which purpose the White Ash is employed in the northern and the Red Ash in the southern ports. On account of its strength and elasticity, the White Ash is esteemed superior to every other wood for oars, and second only to the Hickory for handspikes. In these forms it is exported to England and to the West Indies. It is also sent to England in planks, and is acknowledged by Oddy, in his treatise on European Commerce, to be superior in many respects to the Common Ash.” (Ref. #26d)

Francois Andre Michaux (1770-1855) French botanist, was the son of botanist Andre Michaux. He traveled with his father in the United States and his monumental work incorporates his father’s notes.

Superstition: Eric Sloan noted in his book Sketches of America Past that White Ash was frequently used for house doors and that “a superstitious person might put a Maltese cross in the lower section and thereby make a ‘witch door’ to keep out the evil spirits, or frame the door with ash to make the spell more potent. The ash tree was thought to have special magic to ward off sickness and evil spirits and no snake would cross a barrier of ash leaves.” Curiously, Thomas Nuttall's Supplement to a later edition of Michaux's book in the reference given above said the same about snakes.

He wrote: The leaves and branches of the White Ash are said to be poisonous to serpents, and the leaf to cure their bite. No rattlesnakes are found in White Ash swamps. An ash leaf rubbed upon the swellings caused by mosquitoes, removes the itching and soreness immediately. The same effect is produced on the poison occasioned by the sting of the bee.