78 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



[April 1, 1870. 



1. Ultnus {Campestris). The common rough, or 

 broad-leaved Wych Elm. 



2. Ulmus {Scabra). The Wych Hazel, or rough 

 ami very broad-leaved Elm ; by some unskilful per- 

 sons called the British Mm. 



These two are apparently varieties of what we 

 now call Ulmus montana, and in English "Wych 

 Elm." 



3. Ulmus {Saliva). The small-leaved or English 

 Elm. 



4. Ulmus {Glabra). The smooth-leaved Wych 

 Elm. 



5. Ulmus {Holkmdica). The Dutch Elm. 



6. Ulmus {Minor). The smooth narrow-leaved 

 Elm, by some called the upright Elm. 



These four apparently correspond with what we 

 now call Ulmus campeslris (Sm.) or suberosa, and in 

 English, common or English Elm. 



Sir William Hooker, in his "Elora," enumerated 

 seven species on the authority of Lindley, but said, 

 " With the English species of this genus I confess 

 myself not well acquainted ; and Scotland, so far as 

 I can ascertain, possesses but one really native kind, 

 the broad-leaved Elm, Ulmus montana." Babington 

 admits only two species. These he calls, 



1. Ulmus suberosa (Ehrh.), Common Elm, which 

 includes U. campeslris (Sm.), and U. glabra (Sm.). 



2. Ulmus montana (With.), Wych Elm. 

 Bentham also gives two species, — 



1. Ulmus montana, Wych Elm. 



2. Ulmus campestris, Common Elm, which corre- 

 sponds with Babington's suberosa. 



Now, it will be seen at a glance that there is 

 some confusion between the names of the two 

 species of Elm. The older writers, including Lin- 

 naeus, called that species Campestris, which we now 

 call Montana, — the Wych or so-called Scotch Elm ; 

 but the Campestris of most modern botanists is the 

 other species, — thecommon or so-called English Elm; 

 and this confusion is increased from the fact that 

 Hooker and Amott, in their " British Elora," have 

 returned to the old name for the Wych Elm, and 

 have called it Campestris. 



But most botanists would certainly recognize the 

 two species of Elms by the following names, — 



Ulmus campestris or suberosa, the common or 

 English Elm. 



Ulmus montana, the Scotch or Wych Elm. 



Nurserymen generally distinguish them as English 

 and Scotch Elms, because the former is found (if it 

 be found wild at all) chiefly in England ; the latter 

 being found growing, apparently really wild, in the 

 north of England and in Scotland. Without refer- 

 ring to the more minute differences of leaves, flowers, 

 and seeds, the two trees are recognized at a glance. 

 When young, U. montana has perfectly smooth bark, 

 as smooth as that of a lime-tree, which only be- 

 comes slightly reticulated when the stem is about 

 six or seven inches in diameter. After that it 



gradually becomes more rugged, until in a full- 

 grown tree it is as rough and furrowed as the bark 

 of au oak. Even then the branches are perfectly 

 smooth. U. campestris, on the other hand, has 

 always a rough stem, and the roughness extends 

 even to the moderately small branches. This 

 character of Ulmus montana is not much noticed in 

 modern botanical books, but it is one of the best 

 distinctions I know. Old trees also can be readily 

 distinguished at a glance by the form cf the branches, 

 which in Campestris grow without any regularity of 

 arrangement, but in Montana are remarkably flat, 

 spreading out almost like a fan. Another notice- 

 able distinction is seen in the arrangement of foliage; 

 in Campestris the stems and large limbs are gene- 

 rally plentifully covered with small leaf-bearing 

 twigs, which are never seen in Montana. It is this 

 peculiar habit in^the former species which gives it 

 such an appearance of full foliage, and makes the 

 English Elm such a particularly ornamental tree. 

 Then, again, they affect different situations. The 

 English Elm is seldom seen except where it 

 has apparently been planted, in hedgerows, in 

 avenues, or as single trees in parks ; it is seldom 

 or ever a sylvan tree; whilst the Wych Elm is 

 more frequently seen in woods, where it certainly 

 often comes up spontaneously, and probably from 

 seed. 



Ultnus montana produces an immense quantity of 

 reddish flowers, which come out before the leaves, 

 and which are succeeded very quickly by bunches of 

 seeds, called in the books " hop-like." These fall 

 off and strew the ground about the time the leaves 

 are coming out ; but, as Mrs. Watney describes, 

 some remain upon the branches until the leaves are 

 partially expanded. I have not proved it, but I 

 suspect the greater portion of these seeds are abor- 

 tive, and any that are fertile remain upon the tree a 

 little longer. Ulmus campestris flowers a little later, 

 but in my experience, not nearly so freely, nor does 

 it produce anything like the same quantity of seeds, be 

 they ripe or abortive. Mrs. Watney has several times 

 spoken of Ulmus campestris as " the common elm of 

 our woodlands," but as that species is pre-eminently 

 not a sylvan species, I cannot help thinking that she 

 may have really been referring to montana. One of 

 my assertions was that Ulmus campestris seldom, if 

 ever, perfected, i.e. ripened, its seed. This has 

 been contradicted in the Journal of Horticulture by 

 a correspondent, who says he has seen young plants 

 grown from seed, and has superintended the planting 

 of them out. Unless this gentleman has also con- 

 fused the two species, I must, of course, believe that 

 it does occasionally ripen its seed ; still I wish he 

 had added where the seed came from. My reasons 

 and authorities for believing it to be a very excep- 

 tional circumstance are not without considerable 

 weight. In the first place, it is a foreign tree. 

 Evelyn calls it the "Erench Elm." Dr. Hunter 



