Ash keys

"The English name ash is derived from aesc the Anglo-Saxon name for a spear, once a common use for 'ground ash' as young slender saplings were called. The name Fraxinus was given to the tree by the Romans. It seems likely to have been derived from the Greek phrasso meaning a fence. Ash, living or dead, has always been used for marking field boundaries.
The old Latin name for the seeds (ash keys) was lingua lavis meaning bird's tongue, which they closely resemble."

From The Ash Tree