Kentucky Plant Atlas




Record uncertain    No county information
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Oleaceae Fraxinus <Fraxinus> nigra (sambucifolia)
Fraxinus nigra Marsh.
ALI: no HAB: 6,9, n/a, D, 4? ABU: g9, s0?, -6
Rafinesque (in McMurtrie 1819), Short (1828), Gray (1878-86), Shaler (1884) and others reported this northeastern tree from Ky. during 1770-1880 (Gm, M; Campbell 1989). But only one coll. has been located, and it is not clear if this was from a wild or cultivated tree: J.S. Terrill, 7 Sep 1893, from "Lexington" in FAYE (KY). F. nigra is known from within 5-50 miles of the state line in s. Ind., s. Ohio (where discovered in the 1990s by D. Boone on a seeping base of Indian Hill in Hamilton Co.), and w. Va (D, Braun 1961, Little 1971, HW+). F. nigra is closely related to, and sometimes confused with, the European F. excelsior L. (Wallender 2008), which is cultivated locally in northeastern states but rarely escapes (F, Cr, W). Both species have short flattened samaras, no calyx, sessile leaflets and blackish buds. Leaflets of excelsior are less hairy at their bases (versus densely covered with rusty hairs at junctions with rachis); terminal buds are usually deeper black, more rounded and adjacent to the upper pair of lateral buds (versus distinctly separated); twigs are slightly 4-angled (versus terete), and petiole bases are raised (versus flush with twigs), leaving more or less semicircular scars (versus suborbicular). Both species are diploids (2n = 46), but hybrids have not been reported. The more closely related East Asian species, F. mandschurica Ruprecht, has also been planted in cooler regions of North America, including selected cultivars and hybrids with nigra. These species in section Fraxinus are generally reported to be dioecious or polygamous and may have sex ratios of about 1:1, except perhaps for an excess of males among older trees (e.g. Morand-Prieur et al. 2004, Zhang et al. 2014).