Ash refers to a group of five species ranging throughout the eastern United States. White ash is the best known and preferred species. Technically, only wood from the black ash tree can be separated from the other species, and it is sometimes sold separately and referred to as brown ash by lumbermen.White ash ranges from the Great Plains east and from southern Canada south, with the exception of the lower Mississippi River Delta and coastal plains area. The tree prefers deep, moist, fertile upland soils and is usually a scattered tree associated with many other species. The largest tree reported is over 8 feet in diameter at 4½ feet above the ground.

Both color and texture vary substantially in ash lumber. The earlywood pores are large and abruptly change to small diameter thick-walled cells. Thus, the wood is coarse grained and appears much like oak. However, it does not contain large wood rays, and so the quartered surface does not show “fleck” or the characteristic markings of oak.