Ash

Made of tough stuff
Ash wood is hard and tough, and yet flexible and elastic. That's why it is often used where it can demonstrate these strengths, for example for sports equipment, tool handles, wooden wheels and furniture. Its decorative grain and its wide diversity in colour – ranging from near white to a rich brown – made ash wood one of the most popular parquet wood types.

At the centre of the world
In many mythologies a world tree connects the heavens, the earth and the underworld. In Norse mythology, the huge evergreen ash tree Yggdrasil is the world tree. It was the thingstead at which the gods gathered and held their courts. The Ancient Romans – experts in love already then – associated a romantic meaning with the ash tree. They believed that the arrows of Amor, the god of love, were made of ash wood.

A place in the sun
Ash trees aim high because there is not enough light for their liking under the tree canopies. Their strategy: They quickly grow very tall to reach a gap in the canopy and they are very resourceful in the methods they adopt. One ash tree, for example, is only three centimetres in diameter, but ten metres tall. And because that's not exactly stable, it found itself something to lean on - a pine tree!

Interesting facts
The ash tree is the only tree in the olive family that found its way back to Northern Europe after the glacial periods and the formation of the Alps. Today it is found throughout Europe except in Southern Spain and Northern Scandinavia. Ash trees grow even at high altitudes, up to 1,600 metres in alpine regions.