Description: Trees or rarely shrubs, mainly deciduous.
Leaves odd-pinnate, opposite or whorled at branch apices; petiole and petiolule often basally thickened.
Inflorescences terminal or axillary toward end of branches, or lateral on branches of previous year, paniculate; bracts linear to lanceolate, caducous or absent. Flowers small, unisexual, bisexual, or polygamous. Calyx 4-toothed or irregularly lobed, sometimes absent. Corolla white to yellowish, 4-lobed, divided to base or absent. Stamens 2, inserted at base of corolla lobes; filaments short, exserted at anthesis. Ovules 2 in each locule, pendulous. Style short; stigma ± 2-cleft.
Fruit a samara with apically elongated wing. Seeds usually 1, ovate-oblong; endosperm fleshy; radicle erect.
Distribution and occurrence: World c. 60 species of the Northern Hemisphere. 2 species naturalised in NSW.
Text by KL Wilson (April 2009); description added Louisa Murray (June 2016)
Taxon concept: Adapted from Flora of China Volume 15, p 273
Taxa not yet included in identification key
Fraxinus chinensis,
Fraxinus griffithii
| | Key to the species | |
| 1 | Flowers with no sepals or petals; leaflets mostly 9–13, upper surface bright green and shiny, underside paler and duller | Fraxinus angustifolia |
| Flowers with sepals and petals; leaflets 7–9, deep green on both surfaces | Fraxinus pennsylvanica |
|
