Oleaceae -- Olive family

    Jonathan W. Wright and H. Michael Rauscher

    Black ash (Fraxinus nigra), a slow-growing tree of  northern swampy woodlands, is the only ash native to  Newfoundland. Other common names, swamp ash, basket ash, brown  ash, hoop ash, and water ash, indicate some of its  characteristics and uses. Many aspects of this tree are unknown  because it has never been commercially important. Black ash wood,  easily split, has been much used for baskets. The seeds are an  important food to game birds, songbirds, and small animals, and  the twigs and leaves provide browse for deer and moose.