Native to Southern Europe and southwestern Asia, from Spain and Italy north to Austria, Poland and the Czech Republic, and east through the Balkans, Turkey, and western Syria to Lebanon and Armenia.
One of Victoria's most common trees: 437 on the map, about 1 in 80 trees (#20 of 384 species).
Show Manna ash trees on the map
A sugary extract from the sap may be obtained by making a cut in the bark; this was compared in late medieval times (attested by around 1400 AD) with the biblical manna, giving rise to the English name of the tree, and some of the vernacular names from its native area (fresno del maná in Spanish, frassino da manna in Italian). In fact, the sugar mannose and the sugar alcohol mannitol both derive their names from the extract.