Family |
Oleaceae
Fraxinus ornus
L.
Fraxinus ornus L.
(First published in Sp. Pl.: 1057 (1753); Nouvelle Flore du Liban et de la Syrie, vol. 3, Pl. XIII nº 1; 1983)
• Life-form & habit : Deciduous tree capable of reaching more than 10 m tall.
• Leaves : Leaves appearing with the flowers, compound, with 3–4 pairs of leaflets; leaflets shortly petiolulate, denticulate, lanceolate or ovate, shortly acuminate, glabrous or slightly pubescent on the veins of the lower surface.
• Inflorescence & flowers : Flowers in paniculate racemes, both axillary and terminal, overtopped by the leaves, slightly fragrant; calyx and corolla present; petals linear, much longer than the calyx.
• Fruit : Samaras narrow, with the seed very prominent, retuse at the apex.
• Phenology : Flowers from March to April.
• Habitat & elevation : Wooded places; localized from the coastal belt to the middle mountain belt.
• Lebanese distribution : Recorded by Mouterde from the valley of Nahr Ibrahim, Yahchouche, the surroundings of Ehden, and the forest of Qamou‘a.
• Native range : Albania, Austria, Bulgaria, Corse, Czechia-Slovakia, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Lebanon-Syria, NW. Balkan Pen., Romania, Sardegna, Sicilia, Spain, Switzerland, Transcaucasus, Türkiye, Türkiye-in-Europe.
• Introduced range : Argentina Northeast, Belgium, France, Germany, Great Britain, Ireland, Portugal.
• Diagnostic remarks : Distinguished from Fraxinus excelsior and F. syriaca by the presence of both calyx and corolla, by flowers appearing with the leaves rather than before them, and by its fragrant paniculate racemes. F. excelsior and F. syriaca have flowers without calyx or corolla, appearing before the leaves; F. excelsior usually has 4–6 pairs of subsessile serrate leaflets and obtuse samaras, while F. syriaca has 1–2, rarely 3, pairs of sessile, strongly serrate leaflets and usually acute samaras.