There are about sixty-five species of the ash tree in the northern hemisphere.  The one with the highest population, and that is the most useful, is the white ash.  Its tough wood can be used for baseball bats, skis, oars, tennis rackets, tool handles, and ladders.  This type of tree grows in deep, well-drained soil, and in wet places.  It may reach one-hundred twenty feet high, and the leaves can be twelve inches or more in length, with five to nine leaflets, each a few inches long.  Reddish-purple groups of flowers bloom on the white ash tree in early spring.
  The flowering ash of southern Europe blooms creamy white flowers.  It has leaves with most of the time seven leaflets, and it can grow up to twenty feet tall.
  The Mexican ash is a broad-crowned tree.  This means that it has a wide, spread out top.  Many of them are planted along Mexico City streets, and they are evergreen except in dry or freezing seasons.  The Mexican ash can grow up to fifty feet tall, and has leaves with five to nine leaflets.  The velvet ash is also a mild-climate tree, which has three to five narrow leaflets.

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