E-Flora BC: Electronic Atlas of the Plants of British Columbia
Fraxinus latifolia Benth.
Oregon ash
Oleaceae

Introduction to Vascular Plants

© Tricia Demacedo (Photo ID #7566)




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Distribution of Fraxinus latifolia in British Columbia.

(Please note that these maps show a summary of all available distribution data, and that not all data is vetted. Visit our About the Data page to learn about our data sources, and visit our interactive maps for more insight.)


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Click on the image below to view an expanded illustration for this species. If more than one illustration is available for a species (e.g., separate illustrations were provided for two subspecies) then links to the separate images will be provided below.



Illustration Source: The Illustrated Flora of BC.
SPECIES INFORMATION
General:
  Deciduous tree up to 25 m tall; bark rough, grey-brown, with deep cracks at maturity, young twigs and leaves hairy to woolly.
Leaves:
Opposite, pinnately compound with 5-7 leaflets, egg-shaped, 12-30 cm long, entire to toothed, dull-green above, paler below, turning yellow in the fall.
Flowers:
Inflorescence of small, inconspicuous male and female flowers in crowded panicles on separate trees, appearing with the leaves; petals lacking; staminate flowers yellow, with minute bract-like calyces; pistillate flowers with larger calyces, greenish.
Fruits:
Samaras (winged fruits), in clusters, 3-5 cm long, 3-9 mm wide; seeds 1.

Source:  The Illustrated Flora of British Columbia
USDA Flower Colour:
Green
USDA Blooming Period:
Mid Spring
USDA Fruit/Seed characteristics:
Colour: Brown
Present over the Summer

Source:  The USDA
CLIMATE
The climate type for this species, as reported in the "British Columbia plant species codes and selected attributes. Version 6 Database" (Meidinger et al. 2008), is not evaluated, unknown or variable.

HABITAT/RANGE
Swamps and estuaries in the lowland zone; rare on W Vancouver Island; S to CA.

Source: The Illustrated Flora of BC
STATUS INFORMATION
Provincial Status:  S1
BC Status (Red Blue List):  Red
COSEWIC Status:  Not listed
Origin Status:  species of unknown origin.

BC Ministry of Environment: BC Species and Ecosystems Explorer, the authoritative source for conservation information in British Columbia.
 
TAXONOMIC AND NOMENCLATURAL INFORMATION
Synonymy:
Fraxinus oregana
Fraxinus oregona Nutt.
Fraxinus pennsylvanica ssp. oregana Marsh.

 International Plant Names Index
 Taxonomic Information from the Missouri Botanical Garden
 Vascular Plant Type Database, New York Botanical Gardens
 Genetic information (NCBI Taxonomy Database)
ADDITIONAL RANGE AND STATUS INFORMATION
INVASIVE STATUS AND INFORMATION
Invasive Status: Fraxinus latifolia is not invasive.


Note: Species currently listed as "invasive" on the E-Flora BC atlas pages come from a comprehensive list of invasive and noxious species for BC compiled by E-Flora BC. Note that a species can be alien to the province but not considered invasive.  Visit E-Flora BC's list of invasive, alien and noxious species in BC for more details.
MEDICINAL AND POISONOUS PLANT INFORMATION
Species not indicated as poisonous in our database.
The above information is derived from:
Meidinger et al. 2004. British Columbia plant species codes and selected attributes. Version 5 Database.

Please also check the following links for poison information.
Note that not all species are covered in each database.

FDA Poisonous Plant Database
 Native American Ethnobotanical Database
 Plants for a Future--medicinal and edible plants
Additional notes
In 1983, Adolf Ceska, Oluna Ceska and William van Dieran wrote an article on Oregon Ash in British Columbia. That article provides most of the background for the following note.

The origin status of Oregon ash (Fraxinus latifolia) in BC is uncertain (BC Species Explorer 2009). According to Ceska et al. (1984), it was first reported from BC by John Macoun (1883) from Victoria, although he considered the Victoria plants to be introduced. But it was also collected by him from Cloverdale in 1887 and 1893, where he felt it was native (Ceska et al. 1984). In spite of this, according to Ceska et al (1983), it was not included in earlier BC botanical publications (e.g.Henry 1915) and Boivan (1967) excluded it from the BC flora because he considered it an introduced species. However, Taylor and MacBryde (1977) listed it as either native or naturalized in the province (Ceska et al. 1984). In 1983, Adolf and Oluna Ceska, and William van Dieren, found two Oregon ash trees growing in the Macktush Creek Estuary at Port Alberni on Vancouver Island, but could not decide the origin of these (Ceska et al. 1983). Douglas et al .(1999) included the species in the Illlustrated Flora of British Columbia as part of the BC flora.

Today, the origin of Oregon ash in BC remains uncertain. However, Hebda (2004) points to the long presence of ash pollen in the fossil records for BC, indicating that its presence in BC is likely native. He says: "...the pollen record reveals that ash has been a native species for nine and half millennia, though it has never been abundant".

Note Author: R. Klinkenberg August 2, 2009

References

BC Ministry of Environment. 2009. BC Species and Ecosysem Explorer. Available: http://a100.gov.bc.ca/pub/eswp/. Accessed August 2, 2009.

Ceska, A., Ceska, O., and van Dieren, W. 1984. Oregon ash in B.C. B.C.Naturalist 22 (4): 17.

Douglas, G.W., D.V. Meidinger, and J. Pojar (editors). 1999. Illustrated Flora of British Columbia. Volume 3: Dicotyledons (Diapensiaceae Through Onagraceae). B.C. Ministry of Environment, Lands & Parks and B.C. Ministry of Forests. Victoria. 423 p.

Hebda, Richard. 2004. The Long History of Oregon White Ash (Fraxinus latifolia Benth.) in British Columbia. Botanical Electronic News #321, January 14, 2004. Available: http://www.ou.edu/cas/botany-micro/ben/ben321.html.
KEY REFERENCES


Please cite these pages as: Author, Date. Page title. In Klinkenberg, Brian. (Editor) 2010. E-Flora BC: Electronic Atlas of the Plants of British Columbia [eflora.bc.ca]. Lab for Advanced Spatial Analysis, Department of Geography, University of British Columbia, Vancouver. [Accessed: 2/9/2010 1:46:11 PM]
Disclaimer: The information contained in the E-Flora atlas pages is derived from expert sources as cited in each section. This information is scientifically based. E-Flora also acts as a portal to other sites via deep links. As always, users should refer to the original sources for complete information. E-Flora BC is not responsible for the accuracy or completeness of the original information.
E-Flora BC: An initiative of the Spatial Data Lab, Department of Geography UBC, and the UBC Herbarium.