Native · Up to 30 m

Common ash

Fraxinus excelsior · Oleaceae

Ash has an open, airy crown on slender, curving limbs. Its leaves usually have 9 to 13 leaflets, and sooty black buds sit in pairs on its grey shoots.

Often mistaken for elder. How to tell them apart →

Know it by

Leaves9 to 13 leaflets to one leaf, set in pairs.

Black budsBlack buds, in facing pairs.

KeysSingle keys, not joined in pairs, hanging in bunches.

Then check · BarkPale grey and smooth on a young tree. An older trunk has shallow ridges that cross in a criss-cross net.

How to identify a common ash

Leaves

Each ash leaf usually has 9 to 13 toothed leaflets, set in pairs along one stalk with a single one at the tip.

Black buds

The buds are black and shaped like squat cones, set in facing pairs along grey shoots with one at the tip.

Keys

Each seed has its own long, flat wing, never joined in a pair, and the keys hang in bunches. They're green in summer, then brown, and often stay on the bare tree into winter.

Learn the common ash in TreelyEvery part through the year, and a short round each day until you know it.Get Treely

Every part, in photographs

Common ash leaves: nine to thirteen leaflets, the leaves in opposite pairs — LeavesNine to thirteen leaflets, the leaves in opposite pairs

Common ash flowers: dark purple clusters before the leaves, in April — FlowersDark purple clusters before the leaves, in April

Common ash keys: bunches of biscuit brown keys, held all winter — KeysBunches of biscuit brown keys, held all winter

Common ash bark: pale grey, in a shallow criss-cross network — BarkPale grey, in a shallow criss-cross network

Common ash black buds: sooty black buds in opposite pairs — Black budsSooty black buds in opposite pairs

Malc_l, CC BY 4.0

ShapeOpen airy crown on a long clean trunk

When to look

JFMAMJJASOND

In leaf

Flowers

Keys

In leaf: April to November · Flowers: March to April · Keys: all year

Every tree on the calendar · How to identify trees in winter

Where you’ll find it

Woods, hedgerows, limestone pavement, rocky slopes, riverbanks and old parkland throughout Britain and Ireland, high into the limestone hills. It is quick to colonise rough, neglected ground, old quarries and railway banks, and is planted in parks and gardens.

What it’s mistaken for

Common ash or elder?Both have feathered leaves in facing pairs.Leaflets on one leaf

Common ash or tree of heaven?Both have big feathered leaves: 40 to 60 cm on tree of heaven, 20 to 35 cm on ash.Edge of a leaflet

Common ash or English oak?Both have grey bark, and from a distance or in winter they can look alike.Older trunk

Common ash or common beech?Young trees of both stand as smooth pale grey poles in the same wood.Whole leaf

Common ash or false acacia?Both stand bare and angular in a winter street, and in summer both have a big feathered leaf.Strong winter shoot

Common ash or honey locust?Both are big trees with feathered leaves, planted in streets and parks.Leaflets

Common ash or sycamore?Big trees of the same woods, both with buds and leaves in facing pairs and winged seeds in bunches.Colour of a winter bud

RowanBoth have feathered leaves of toothed leaflets. Leaf. Common ash: in facing pairs, another leaf directly opposite. Rowan: set singly, one after another along the shoot.
WalnutBoth have big feathered leaves, and both are planted in the same parks and gardens. Leaf. Common ash: toothed, the teeth uneven. Walnut: smooth, apart from the odd small tooth low down.

In the app

There’s more of the common ash in Treely

Every part, through the yearLeaves, bark, buds, flowers and fruit, photographed in every season
Its lookalikes, side by sideThe checks that settle it, part by part
A short round each dayUntil you know the common ash on sight, from any side
Name it from a photoA leaf, the bark or a flower, and Treely tells you which tree

App Store Google Play

Free to download.

Every fact on this page is checked against the Collins Tree Guide, last in November 2026. Spotted something that looks wrong in front of a real tree? Tell us. How we check.

Photographs: Malc_l (CC BY 4.0), Leon Cross (CC BY 4.0), steve_mcwilliam (CC0), Zeke Marshall (CC BY 4.0), bobwardell (CC0), Jan Sheppard (CC BY 4.0), Matthew Flood (CC BY 4.0), Kieran Roy Powell (CC BY 4.0), cigazze (CC BY 4.0), Daniel Seth Jackson (CC BY 4.0), Jose Gutierrez Higa (CC BY 4.0). With thanks to everyone who shares their photographs on iNaturalist and Wikimedia Commons.