Species
+

Fraxinus velutina Torr.

Arizon ash, Velvet ash, desert ash, velvet ash

Climate known 73 photographs
Add one to my plants Sow seed

Every figure on this page is derived from public data by a stated rule and says its source; nothing here is written by a person or a model, except the Wikipedia passage, which is quoted and marked as such. How it is made.

Summary

Fraxinus velutina, the velvet ash, Arizona ash or Modesto ash, is a species of Fraxinus native to southwestern North America, in the United States from southern California east to Texas, and in Mexico from northern Baja California east to Coahuila and Nuevo León.

Text from Wikipedia, “Fraxinus velutina”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written. Kept separate from everything derived here.

About the genus · Fraxinus

Fraxinus, commonly called ash, is a genus of plants in the olive and lilac family, Oleaceae, and comprises 45–65 species of usually medium-to-large trees, most of which are deciduous, although some subtropical species are evergreen. The genus is widespread throughout much of Europe, Asia, and North America.

Text from Wikipedia, “Fraxinus”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written.

Family
Oleaceae
Described by
Torr.
Native to
Arizona, California, Nevada +8
Wild records
1598 in range· 629 open

At a glance

Warmest month
32°C
Jul, mean day; nights 19 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
400mm/yr
9 wet months · peak Aug 62 mm (CHELSA)
Light
20–53DLI
mol/m²/day, winter to summer, open sky (CHELSA shortwave)
In short condensed by rule from the cultivation cards · not written by a person
Rain rule: a winter growing season, December to March and July to September in the northern hemisphere (December to March and July to September at the habitat, northern). Habitat rain 400 mm a year, wettest August at 62 mm, driest June at 9 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 20 to 53 mol/m²/day. Cold floor -4.6 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).
Each sentence is one card's own one-line form, written by the same rule as the card (Its year, Rain, Light, Temperature); the note cannot say what a card does not. Months are given for the northern hemisphere (set your site in Settings to change this), and the habitat's own alongside. The cards · the figures.

Also known as Fraxinus americana var. coriacea (S.Watson) Wenz.; Fraxinus americana var. pistaciifolia Wenz.; Fraxinus attenuata M.E.Jones; Fraxinus berlandieriana G.Schellenb.; Fraxinus coriacea S.Watson and 15 more.

Cultivation

Its year Rain rule: a winter growing season, December to March and July to September in the northern hemisphere (December to March and July to September at the habitat, northern).

This species’ habitat figures, and what two fixed rules read from them.

The rain rule reads a winter growing season: 70% of the year's rain (308 mm of 400 mm) falls in December to March and July to September, cooler than the year (wet-season mean 15.0 °C against a yearly mean of 15.9 °C). Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: January to March and June to September.

Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the envelope cells: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve gives a season to reverse. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain Habitat rain 400 mm a year, wettest August at 62 mm, driest June at 9 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

400 mm a year at the habitat, 308 mm of it December to March and July to September. Wettest month August at 62 mm, driest June at 9 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 274 mm to 633 mm (10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year) (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the envelope cells. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light Open sky over the habitat: 20 to 53 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 20 to 53 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 18, the highest 90th-percentile month 55).

CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Warmth and air Cold floor -4.6 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell is -4.6 °C, the absolute minimum -10.5 °C, about 41 frost nights a year (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 39.4 °C. Monthly means: coldest night 1.2 °C in January (across the envelope cells -3.5 °C to 5.5 °C), warmest day 32.1 °C in July (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: -4.6 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell (NASA POWER).

NASA POWER daily minima and maxima 1981–2024 at the typical cell, lapse-corrected to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA. The cold floor is the figure named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 39 to 50% across the year (monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the envelope cells.

The figures the cards read from are in Climate below, and where they came from in Natural habitat.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat climate through the yearMean day from 13 °C in Dec to 32 °C in Jul; mean night from 1 °C in Jan to 19 °C in Jul. The cold quarter, Dec to Feb, is the three months around the coldest night. 400 mm of rain a year, most in Aug. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 888 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was -10.5 °C and the 99th-percentile day 39.4 °C; neither is dated to a month. Beneath: daily light integral and relative humidity through the year, each on its own scale.-20°-10°10°20°30°40°50°frost39.4° 99th-percentile day (undated)-10.5° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter0255075100125mm rainDLI 20–53RH 39–50 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 888 habitat cells cold quarter: the three months around the coldest night extremes over 44 years at the typical cell, marked at the edge: undated DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C14 / 8–1815 / 10–1918 / 13–2222 / 18–2627 / 22–3131 / 26–3532 / 27–3631 / 26–3529 / 24–3224 / 19–2718 / 13–2213 / 8–18
Night °C1 / -4–62 / -2–74 / 0–98 / 4–1212 / 8–1716 / 12–2119 / 15–2418 / 14–2316 / 11–2011 / 6–155 / 1–91 / -3–6
Rain mm39 / 18–8339 / 16–9535 / 13–7518 / 9–3810 / 5–279 / 2–5254 / 3–12262 / 4–11839 / 7–6729 / 16–4526 / 15–4840 / 18–69
DLI22 / 20–2528 / 25–3137 / 35–4146 / 43–4852 / 49–5353 / 49–5547 / 43–5243 / 40–4739 / 37–4132 / 30–3424 / 22–2720 / 18–23
RH %50 / 47–5449 / 46–5647 / 42–5742 / 38–5540 / 35–5539 / 34–5547 / 40–5650 / 42–5647 / 42–5546 / 43–5447 / 44–5250 / 47–53

Each figure is the median across the 888 grid cells holding the 1552 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. Extremes and elevation were read at the typical cell 1153:1386 (32.325, -110.675). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -10.5 °C, 1st-percentile night -4.6 °C, 99th-percentile day 39.4 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Envelope: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 888 distinct grid cells holding the 1552 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1153:1386 (its coldest month's mean night nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 32.50_-110.625, lapse-corrected +139 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 1317 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across every in-range record's cell, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeArizona, California, Nevada, Utah, New Mexico, Texas, Mexico Central, Mexico Northeast, Mexico Gulf, Mexico Northwest, Mexico Southeast· introduced: Argentina Northeast
Kew's description“tree” · “subtropical”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker32.243, -110.783 · in the densest population, 804 records (50% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 1598 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 629 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 6 km away. 26 records outside the range (gardens, roadsides, misidentifications) ignored. 46 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km and stay on the map but off the climate.
The map markerthe map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population inside the densest 2° block of the 1598 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Fraxinus velutinaFraxinus velutinaFraxinus velutinaFraxinus velutinaFraxinus velutinaFraxinus velutinaFraxinus velutinaFraxinus velutina

Photographs: (c) Sue Carnahan, some rights reserved (CC BY) (5); (c) Andrew Tree, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2); (c) William Harmon, some rights reserved (CC BY).

Photographs: iNaturalist did not answer when this page was built; what is shown came from the sources that did.

Papers naming this species

Works whose title or abstract names Fraxinus velutina, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.

Vulnerability to xylem cavitation and the distribution of Sonoran Desert vegetation
William T. Pockman, John S. Sperry (2000) · American Journal of Botany
The Biology and Ecology of the Emerald Ash Borer, Agrilus planipennis , in China
Xiaoyi Wang, Zhong-Qi Yang, Juli R. Gould, Yinan Zhang (2010) · Journal of Insect Science
First Recorded Parasitoid from China of Agrilus planipennis: A New Species of Spathius (Hymenoptera: Braconidae: Doryctinae)
Zhong-qi Yang, John S. Strazanac, Paul Marsh, C. van Achterberg (2005) · Annals of the Entomological Society of America
Saltcedar (Tamarix ramosissima) invasion alters organic matter dynamics in a desert stream
Theodore A. Kennedy, Sarah E. Hobbie (2003) · Freshwater Biology
Nutrient and heavy metal uptake and storage in constructed wetland systems in Arizona
Martin M. Karpiscak, L. Whiteaker, Janick F. Artiola, Kennith E. Foster (2001) · Water Science & Technology
Drought Responses among Seven Southwestern Landscape Tree Taxa
Coye A. Balok, Rolston St. Hilaire (2002) · Journal of the American Society for Horticultural Science
Litter identity affects assimilation of carbon and nitrogen by a shredding caddisfly
Adam C. Siders, Zacchaeus G. Compson, Bruce A. Hungate, Paul Dijkstra (2018) · Ecosphere
Effects of Parking Lot Location on Size and Physiology of Four Southwestern U.S. Landscape Trees
Sarah Celestian, Chris Martin (2005) · Arboriculture & Urban Forestry
Comparative Transcriptome Analysis Unravels Defense Pathways of Fraxinus velutina Torr Against Salt Stress
Xinmei Ma, Jian Ning Liu, Liping Yan, Qiang Liang (2022) · Frontiers in Plant Science

Similar habitat climate the 6 species whose habitat climate is nearest this one's: mean day and night, month by month, and rain on a log scale, in calendar order, so a habitat with the same seasons six months out is far, not near. Nothing else counts: not range, not family.

Other Fraxinus 9 in the reference

History & registers

Where this page came from built 2026-09-20 · dossier v2 · node
gbif.species answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.synonyms answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.vernacular answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
wcvp.distribution answered
gbif.occurrences answeredGBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.3h4zam
climate answered
wikidata answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
wikipedia answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped
inat.taxon not asked
inat.photos.wild answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped
inat.photos.cultivated nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
commons nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
gbif.media answered
openalex answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped

Every upstream is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, or refused. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 93 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.