Pumpkin ash (Fraxinus profunda): what the agencies record

This page reports what US federal publications say about one tree. It does not identify trees from descriptions or photos and does not say what should be done with any tree. The family overview, tree species in the agency records, explains the sources and holds the comparison table.

At a glance

Item	What the source records
Scientific name	Fraxinus profunda (Bush) Bush in USDA PLANTS, olive family
Other names	Red ash (Silvics); USDA PLANTS lists no other common names
Native status, USDA PLANTS	Native in Canada and the lower 48 states
Size, Silvics	A large tree reaching 40 m (130 ft) tall and 173 cm (68 in) in diameter on the best sites; on the wettest sites it commonly develops a swollen or pumpkin-shaped butt
Growth, Silvics	No published growth or yield data; trees in a Mississippi Delta plantation averaged 6.7 m (22 ft) tall and 8.9 cm (3.5 in) in diameter at age 6
Shade and roots, Silvics	Most accurately classed as intermediate in shade tolerance; tolerant of shading when young and growing more rapidly than green ash; the handbook says no rooting information is published
Green weight of the wood, NRS-38	50 lb per cubic foot, without bark

Native range and sites

The Silvics of North America handbook (Agriculture Handbook 654, volume 2, 1990) says pumpkin ash is found locally along swamp margins and river bottoms, chiefly in the Atlantic Coastal Plain from southern Maryland and southeastern Virginia to northern Florida and west to Louisiana. It also grows in the Mississippi and Ohio River valleys from southern Illinois and Indiana south through southeastern Missouri and northeastern Arkansas, and the handbook calls the range quite discontinuous. USDA PLANTS lists the species as native in the lower 48 states and in Canada, a range the handbook chapter does not describe.

The handbook describes wet to very wet sites: very wet ground, including swamp and slough edges, poorly drained flats on the large river floodplains, tidal estuary swamps, coastal marsh edges and deeper Coastal Plain depressions, on silt loam to clay loam with a muck or shallow peat surface. It lists pumpkin ash as a minor component of the Baldcypress, Baldcypress-Tupelo and Water Tupelo-Swamp Tupelo forest cover types.

Flowers and seed

Silvics says pumpkin ash is dioecious, flowering in April and May before the leaves flush. The fruit is a one-seeded winged samara carried in clusters, and the handbook says pumpkin ash has the largest seed of the native ash species, averaging 6.1 to 7.1 cm (2.4 to 2.8 in) in length and 9 mm (0.35 in) in width. Seed production begins at an early age, the youngest reported being 10 years, and seeds mature in late summer and fall between October and December, mostly dispersed by wind with some water dispersal. The handbook says the species is apparently not a prolific seeder and that seedlings are moderately shade tolerant and grow rapidly if the site is not totally preempted by ground cover or a dense overstory.

Growth and uses

Silvics says pumpkin ash along the margins of swamps and sloughs grows very slowly, and more rapidly at somewhat higher elevations where soils are better drained. It says that in practice it has not been practical to distinguish pumpkin ash from green ash for management or utilization, and that the species can be readily planted. The handbook says it produces high-quality factory lumber and dimension material and is an important source of handle and implement stock; wood ducks and many other birds eat the fruits and white-tailed deer browse the young twigs and leaves.

Wood

The Wood Handbook (FPL-GTR-282, 2021) groups pumpkin ash with black ash as the black ash group, with a lighter wood than the white ash group (basic specific gravity of 0.45 to 0.48 against more than 0.50). It adds that pumpkin ash, American white ash and green ash growing in southern river bottoms, especially where flooded for long periods, produce buttresses that contain relatively lightweight and brash wood. Table 5-3b has no pumpkin ash row, so no strength figures are given here; the black ash row is on the black ash page. The green weight of the wood without bark is in the NRS-38 table, shown in the glance table above and used in the log weight calculator.

Diseases, insects and damage the agencies name

Silvics (1990) says there are no published data on specific insect or disease problems for pumpkin ash.

Fire. Called very susceptible to fire.
Drought dieback. Moderately susceptible to dieback during drought on the wettest sites.
Heart rot. Upper stem heart rot (Lentinus tigrinus) may be severe in overmature trees.
Emerald ash borer. The Wood Handbook says that because of the spread of the emerald ash borer, black ash and pumpkin ash are both considered critically endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, and that widespread harvesting of both live and dead trees was ongoing in an effort to curtail the problem. The guide on emerald ash borer rules by country gives each agency's wording and the date on its page.

The guide on reporting a pest in the United States and the Canada reporting page give the offices that take sightings of regulated pests. Who may apply pesticides is in pesticide licences by country.