Recently I lent a hand at removing some dead limbs from a white ash tree.   The trunk on the tree is in the 48 inch diameter range - and when I counted growth rings in the 20 inch diameter limb which was removed - the limb had been up in the sky defying gravity for 125+ years!   

Pretty amazing. 

After the wood was on the ground, we cut it up for firewood.   The image above shows spectacular "quilting" (also known as " curly" wood grain). Notice the bark also demonstrates quilting.   More images soon.   You can read about this corrugated type of grain structure - which also occurs in maple - here on wikipedia,  and be sure to clink on the link to chatoyancy - 

The image above was illuminated with an LED flashlight - poor color rendition.   I will try again with sunlight later. 

White ash has a serious disease (ash yellows)  which caused the die back on the tree.