Common hop-tree, Ptelea trifoliate, is a small tree in
the same family as Citrus. The vernacular name hop-tree is due to the
appearance of a cluster of fruits resembling hops because individually they
look more like oversized slippery elm, Ulmus rubra,
samaras to me. The specific epithet is due to
the leaves having three leaflets, which is leads to it also being know as wafer-ash.
Another colloquial name is stinking-ash, but when I once asked if
anybody had ever heard of it they claimed to have, but were obviously not
talking about a plant. I have seen them
in at least four locations including one on the border of