#70 MANNA ASH
Fraxinus ornus
This tree can be found near the centre of the Grass Path, on the south side.
| Distribution: | Woodland slopes in southern Europe, and south sest Asia |
| Planting Date: | 1914 supplied by Plowman and Son, High Street, and Lubenham Hill, Market Harborough, Leicestershire |
| Growth Habit: | Medium sized tree with twisting branches and flattish crown. |
| Bark: | Smooth dark grey, sometimes almost black. Buds grey-brown and woolly. |
| Leaf: | Opposite, pinnate to 30 cm long with up to 9 ovate, toothed, taper-pointed leaflets each to 10 cm long. Matt green above and paler with white or brown hairs on veins beneath |
| Flowers: | Showy, frothy, creamy-white 20 cm across, hanging clusters of fragrant, 4-petaled, 6mm flowers which open with leaves, usually in early May. |
| Fruit: | Narrow, oval-winged fruits to 2 cm long with single seed, hang in dense clusters , green at first, ripening to pale brown |
| Size in 2023: | Height 16 m and girth 135 cm |
| Uses: | During the flowering season the bark yields a sweet sap which makes a nutritive and gentle tonic for convalescence and used to disguise the taste of other medicines. It is still used in Southern Italy and Sicily as a mild laxative syrup for children and pregnant women. |
| Introduction Date: | Before 1700 |
| Comments: | Planted in British Isles as a street tree and for ornamental value. This specimen was rated County Champion in April 2023 by David Alderman of ‘The Tree Register‘ on account of its height. |