“Sporting Wood”

1)    White Ash    (Fraxinus americana)

• Tough, plentiful, and easily bent into curves, Ash is used in tennis racquets, billiard cues, skis, and baseball bats.
• White Ash is native to eastern and central North America.
• This cutting is from the cultivar ‘Rose Hill’, located in grid 47-3E near the Lagoons.

2)   Common Box    (Buxus sempervirens)

• Used for crocquet balls because of its hardness.
• Native to Europe, northern Africa and western Asia.
• The cultivar here is ‘Argentea’ from grid 5-B in our Boxwood Collection.

3)   American Hop Hornbeam    (Ostrya virginiana)

• The first ice hockey sticks were made from the dense wood of this small tree in the mid-19th century until the 1930s by the Mi’kmaq people of Nova Scotia.
• Ostrya virginiana is native to eastern North America.
• The Arboretum has two trees in grids 19-3W and 24-4W.

4)   Persimmon    (Diospyros virginiana)

• The “woods” of golf (drivers, not Tiger’s) were typically made from this American member of the ebony family from which it inherits its extreme density.
• Persimmon is most common in the southeastern United States.
• In the Arboretum, they are in grids 12-1W and 12-2W, north of the Boyer Street parking lot.

5)   Sugar Maple    (Acer saccharum)

• Commonly called “rock” maple by those who value its hardness and smooth grain.
• This native of eastern North America provides wood for bowling alleys, bowling pins, basketball courts, and baseball bats.
• The Arboretum has several cultivars in various locations.

Sources:

• Croquet by Mayne Reid
• Evolution of the hockey stick | Toronto Star
• ITF Tennis
• Croquet Mallets & Accessories
• What Pool Cues are Made Of (And Why It Matters)