{{Short description|Variety of tree}} {{use dmy dates|date=February 2021}} {{use Australian English|date=October 2021}} [[Image:Fraxinus angustifolia broken trunk1.jpg|200px|right|thumb|Claret Ash, Northumberland, England]] '''''Fraxinus angustifolia'' subsp. ''oxycarpa'' 'Raywood'''', known as '''claret ash''' or '''Raywood ash''' is a cultivar of ash, a seedling variant of Caucasian ash, ''Fraxinus angustifolia'' subsp. ''oxycarpa''. It is distinctive in its leaves turning to a dark red colour in autumn.
==History== The original seedling was discovered near a group of assorted ash trees in Sewell's nursery in the Mount Lofty Ranges in South Australia about 1910, and later grown at the nearby property, "Raywood" (former home of the Downer family).<ref name=rowell>Rowell, Raymond J. (1980). ''Ornamental Flowering Trees'' in Australia, AH & AW Reed Pty Ltd {{ISBN|0-589-50178-X}}</ref> Tullie Cornthwaite Wollaston (1863–1931<ref name=adb>{{cite web | title=Tullie Cornthwaite Wollaston|first=Bernard |last=O'Neil | website=Australian Dictionary of Biography | date=1 January 1990 | url=https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/wollaston-tullie-cornthwaite-9169 | access-date=31 October 2021| quote=This article was published: in the Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 12, 1990; online in 2006.}}</ref>), an opal dealer, is credited with its discovery and propagation in the now heritage-listed garden there.<ref name=raywoodsah>{{cite web | title=Heritage details: Dwelling ('Raywood', previously 'Arbury Park') Garden, Chapel, Driveway and Gates | website=SA Heritage Places Database Search| url=http://maps.sa.gov.au/heritagesearch/HeritageItem.aspx?p_heritageno=17272 | access-date=31 October 2021}} 50px Text may have been copied from this source, which is available under a [https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)] licence. ([https://www.sa.gov.au/copyright])</ref><ref>{{Citation | author1=Crilly, Kath | title=Raywood in the Adelaide Hills : the magnificent garden of T. C. Wollaston. | publication-date=1995 | publisher=K. Crilly | isbn=978-0-646-21194-7}}</ref>
In 1937, claret ash trees were planted along the central reservation and verges of Anzac Highway in Adelaide when it was redeveloped into a dual carriageway.<ref>{{cite web | title=Claret Ash (Fraxinus oxycarpa 'Raywood') | website=National Trust | date=24 May 2018 | url=https://trusttrees.org.au/tree/SA/Keswick/4_Anzac_Highway | access-date=31 October 2021}}</ref>
The tree was introduced to cultivation in Britain in 1928 and to North America in 1956, although it did not become widely available there until 1979.<ref name=rowell/>
==Description== Claret ash is a cultivar of Caucasian ash, derived from a natural seedling variant.<ref name=rowell/> Caucasian ash is a subspecies of narrow-leaved ash, ''Fraxinus angustifolia''.
Claret ash grows to around {{convert|15|-|20|m|abbr=on}} and has dark green leaves that turn to a dark red claret in the autumn. The bark of the tree is notably smoother than other Caucasian ash trees, which is quite apparent on those claret ash trees that have been grafted onto a Caucasian ash rootstock. In Australia and the United States a decline or dieback in some older trees has been observed, which has been attributed to a combination of environmental stress and the presence of the fungus ''Botryosphaeria''.<ref name=rowell/>
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== * [https://landscapeplants.oregonstate.edu/plants/fraxinus-oxycarpa-raywood ''Fraxinus oxycarpa'' 'Raywood' Oregon State Univ., Landscape Plants] * Gordon, Thomas R. (2004). [https://slosson.ucdavis.edu//newsletters/Gordon_200428999.pdf Investigation into the etiology of decline of Raywood ash in Northern California].
Category:Fraxinus Category:Ornamental trees Category:Ornamental plant cultivars