I don't see any photos here of Manna Ash, Fraxinus ornus, so here's the one at Kits Beach. I know this ID because Douglas Justice told me a few years ago now. So a few questions: I can't find other ash flower photos, except the European Ash, which we saw in England. Am I likely to mistake some other ash for this, or is this the only one with those fluffy white inflorescences? I've read that the fluffy flowers are female flowers, and elsewhere that they're male flowers, and elsewhere that while many ashes are either male or female, this species has flowers that are either male or hermaphroditic. Does anyone local remember if there were two of these trees? I seem to remember that, but can't find a photo. There's only one now and a fresh stump nearby with a rather larger diameter than on this tree. At least one tree here had samaras, but I don't remember if it was this one. I can't find any pistils in my (not very clear) closeup photos of this tree's flowers, so maybe this is a male and there won't be any more samaras? The smaller tree is from the west end, and I've circled what I think are three pistils in the blossom photo from that tree. Someone could tell me if I've misunderstood that. Those stringy white petals are about 2cm long.
At least in Britain, for all practical purposes, it is the only ash with those fluffy white inflorescences. There are others (all classified as Fraxinus sect. Ornus; mainly native to Asia, but also Fraxinus cuspidata native to the US Southwest), but they are very rare in cultivation, unlikely to be found outside major botanical collections. This situation may of course differ in Vancouver. Ash sexuality is a very complex issue (!), it can even vary with time and from branch to branch in an individual tree, so very hard to make any predictions.
