A variety of the common species, known as var. _heterophylla_, has simple leaves. It occurs wild in woods in Europe and England. Another variety of ash (_pendula_) is met with in which the branches are pendulous and weeping. Sometimes this variety is grafted on the tall stem of the common ash, so as to produce a pleasing effect. It is said that the weeping variety was first observed at Gamlingay, in Cambridgeshire. A variety (_crispa_) occurs with curled leaves, and another with warty stems and branches, called _verrucosa_. _F. Ornus_ is the manna ash (see MANNA), a handsome tree with greenish-white flowers and native in south Europe. In southern Europe there is a small-leaved ash, called _Fraxinus parvifolia_. _F. floribunda_, a large tree with terminal panicles of white flowers, is a native of the Himalayas. In America there are several species--such as _Fraxinus americana_, the white ash; _F. pubescens_, the red ash; and _F. sambucifolia_, the black ash.
The "mountain ash" belongs to a totally different family from the common ash. It is called _Pyrus Aucuparia_, and belongs to the natural order Rosaceae, and the tribe _Pomeae_, which includes also apples, pears, &c. Its common name is probably due to its resemblance to the true ash, in its smooth grey bark, graceful ascending branches, and especially the form of the leaf, which is also pinnately compound but smaller than in the true ash. Its common name in Scotland is the rowan tree; it is well known by its clusters of white blossoms and succulent scarlet fruit. The name of poison ash is given to _Rhus venenata_, the North American poison elder or sumach, belonging to the Anacardiaceae (Cashew family). The bitter ash of the West Indies is _Simaruba excelsa_, which belongs to the natural order Simarubaceae. The Cape ash is _Ekebergia capensis_, belonging to the natural order Meliaceae, a large tree, a native of the Cape of Good Hope. The prickly ash, _Xanthoxylon Clava-Herculis_ (nat. ord. Xanthoxyleae), a native of the south-eastern United States, is a small tree, the trunk of which is studded with corky tubercles, while the branches are armed with stout, sharp, brown prickles.
[1] The homonym, ash or (pl.) ashes, the residue (of a body, &c.) after burning, is a common Teutonic word, Ger. _Asche_, connected with the root found in Lat. _ardere_, to burn.