The ash grows as tall as 40 m. Its crown is spherical to egg-shaped. It grows on moist, well-aerated soils. Ash leaves are opposite and unevenly pinnate. The buds are distinctly black. They make the ash easy to identify. Its fruits hang in dense panicles and are shiny brown. The trunk of the ash has lengthwise fissured bark with fine crosswise grooves.

Blooming period: May Fruit maturity: September, October

The ash is representative of the habitat: Mixed forests of slopes, screes and ravines (Tilio-Acerion) - FFH habitat type 9180*

These mixed forests are rich in valuable hardwood trees. They are found from the colline to the high montane altitude on special sites (slopes, ravines) characterized by high relative humidity, steady water supply and a certain instability of the soil. Suitable sites include slopes of settled scree as well as very nutrient-rich, fresh-moist and generally deep colluvial soils at the bases of slopes and non-flooded alluvial soils.

On all of these sites, the European beech is either very scarce or entirely lacking. Depending on the site, the tree layer will be dominated by the valuable hardwoods maple (Acer platanoides, A. pseudoplatanus), ash (Fraxinus excelsior), linden (Tilia platyphyllos, T. cordata) and wych elm (Ulmus glabra) in various mixture ratios, wherein as a rule none of the aforesaid tree species predominates.

The following typical plants can be found in the ravine and hillside forest of the Tauglgries:

Trees:

• Maple - Acer pseudoplatanus
• Ash - Fraxinus excelsior
• Scots pine - Pinus sylvestris
• Spruce - Picea abies

Shrubs:

• Wild privet - Ligustrum vulgare
• Hazel - Corylus avellana
• European dewberry - Rubus caesius

Grasses and herbaceous plants:

• White sedge - Carex alba
• Dog's mercury - Mercurialis perennis