White Ash (Fraxinus americana)
‘Autumn Purple’
Two groups of trees along west side of walkway going in front of Rogers Hall, connecting Sebago Road and Fogler Library
- Autumn Purple is a cultivar — a male clone and seedless — of the white ash.
- This cultivar is known for its long-lasting, extravagant fall color, with leaves of reddish to mahogany purple.
- Introduced in 1956 by the McKay Nursery Co. after having been discovered on the campus of the University of Wisconsin.
- As with other ash trees, the cultivar is highly susceptible to emerald ash borer, an insect native to Asia, discovered in the U.S. in 2002, and now killing ash trees in large quantities, though not yet in Maine.