Fraxinus ornus
Manna ash South European flowering ash | |
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Foliage and flowers | |
Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Plantae |
Clade: | Tracheophytes |
Clade: | Angiosperms |
Clade: | Eudicots |
Clade: | Asterids |
Order: | Lamiales |
Family: | Oleaceae |
Genus: | Fraxinus |
Section: | Fraxinus sect. Ornus |
Species: | F. ornus
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Binomial name | |
Fraxinus ornus | |
Distribution map |
Fraxinus ornus, the manna ash
Description
Fraxinus ornus is a medium-sized deciduous tree growing to 15–25 m (49–82 ft) tall with a trunk up to 1 m diameter. The bark is dark grey, remaining smooth even on old trees.
The buds are pale pinkish-brown to grey-brown, with a dense covering of short grey hairs.
The leaves are in opposite pairs, pinnate, 20–30 cm (7.9–12 in) long, with 5 to 9 leaflets; the leaflets are broad ovoid, 5–10 cm (2–4 in) long and 2–4 cm (0.8–2 in) broad, with a finely serrated and wavy margin, and short but distinct petiolules 5–15 mm (0.20–0.59 in) long; the autumn colour is variable, yellow to purplish.
The flowers are produced in dense panicles 10–20 cm (3.9–7.9 in) long after the new leaves appear in late spring, each flower with four slender creamy white petals 5–6 mm (0.20–0.24 in) long; they are pollinated by insects.
The fruit is a slender samara 1.5–2.5 cm (0.59–0.98 in) long, the seed 2 mm (0.08 in) broad and the wing 4–5 mm (0.2–0.2 in) broad, green ripening brown.[3][6][7]
Cultivation and uses
Fraxinus ornus is frequently grown as an
A sugary extract from the sap may be obtained by making a cut in the bark;[3] this was compared in late medieval times (attested by around 1400 AD[8]) with the biblical manna, giving rise to the English name of the tree, and some of the vernacular names from its native area (fresno del maná in Spanish, frassino da manna in Italian). In fact, the sugar mannose and the sugar alcohol mannitol both derive their names from the extract.
References
- . Retrieved 12 January 2023.
- ^ BSBI List 2007 (xls). Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland. Archived from the original (xls) on 2015-06-26. Retrieved 2014-10-17.
- ^ ISBN 0-00-220013-9.
- ^ Flora Europaea: Fraxinus ornus
- ^ Med-Checklist: Fraxinus ornus
- ^ ISBN 0-00-212035-6
- ISBN 0-00-219037-0
- ^ Oxford English Dictionary
External links
- Production of manna in Sicily
- Fraxinus ornus Archived 2018-09-23 at the Wayback Machine - information, genetic conservation units and related resources. European Forest Genetic Resources Programme (EUFORGEN)