and there are a few over 250. The largest is in Clapton Court, England and is in girth. There are several examples over in Derbyshire alone. Distribution Fraxinus excelsior is native to Europe from northern Spain to Russia, and from southern Fennoscandia to northern Greece. It is also considered native in southwestern Asia from northern Turkey east to the Caucasus and Alborz mountains. The northernmost location is in the Trondheimsfjord region of Norway. The species is widely cultivated and reportedly naturalized in New Zealand and in scattered locales in the United States and Canada including Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Quebec, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Maryland, Ontario, Ohio, Kentucky and British Columbia. It is native throughout Britain and Ireland, particularly on limestone, as in northern Scotland, where the most northerly native ashwood in Britain occurs on limestone at Rassal Ashwood. It is widely planted elsewhere. Ecology Ash occurs on a wide range of soil types, but is particularly associated with basic soils on calcareous substrates. The most northerly ashwood in Britain is on limestone at Rassal, Wester Ross, latitude 57.4278 N. Ash prefers moister soil types and is commonly limited by temperature and so not found at the higher colder altitudes in much of Europe, though in Iran, it may reach 2000 m asl. As a young seedling, it is shade tolerant, but older trees are light-demanding. It is an early-succession species and may well outcompete beech and oak, which are later-succession species. F. excelsior mycorrhizae are of the internal arbuscular mycorrhizal type, in which the fungus grows within the tissues of the root and forms branched, tree-like structures within the cells of the root cortex. Unlike other Fraxinus species, F. excelsior does not form ectomycorrhizae. The Biological Records Centre of the UK records 111 species of insects and mites using ash as a food plant, of which 29 are specific to ash. A further six are specific to ash and its Oleaceae relative wild privet (Ligustrum vulgare). A number of Lepidoptera species use the species as a food source. One example of an ash-specific feeding moth is the centre-barred sallow (Atethmia centrago). The larvae burrow into the buds when newly hatched and later feed on the flowers and leaves. A common moth which causes the browning of ash leaves, as well as garden privet and lilac, is Gracillaria syringella. The usually gregarious larvae form an epidermal gallery (i.e.