Ptelea trifoliata, 



THE THREE-LEAFLETED-LEAVED PTELEA. 



Si/nonymes. 



Ptelea trifoliata, 



Orme de Samarie a trois feuilles, 



Dreyblattrige Lederblume, 



Ptelea, 



Shrubby Trefoil, Tree Trefoil, 



' LiNN^us, Species Plantarum. 

 De Candolle, Prodromus. 

 Don, Miller's Dictionary. 

 Loudon, Arboretum Britannicum. 

 ToRREY AND Gray, Flora of North America. 

 France. 

 Germany. 

 Italy. 

 Britain and Anglo-America. 



Engravings. Loudon, Arboretum Britannicum, v., pi. 59; and the figures below. 



Specific Characters. Leaf of three leaflets that are ovate acute, the middle one much tapered towards the 

 base. Flowers in corymbs, usually tetrandrous. De Candolle, Frodromus. 



Description, 



!HE Ptelea trifoliata, in its 



natural habitat, usually 



grows to a height of six or 



eight feet; but, when cul- 

 tivated under favourable circumstances, it some- 

 times attains an elevation of forty feet and 

 upwards. When the plant is pruned up with 

 a single stem, it forms a handsome low tree, 

 with a hemispherical head ; but it is more fre- 

 quently cultivated as a large shrub, with nume- 

 rous stems proceeding from the same basal point. 

 The leaflets are sessile, ovate, mostly acumi- 

 nate, obscurely crenulate, the terminal one cune- 

 iform, and attenuate at the base. The flowers, 

 which appear in June and July, are of a green- 

 ish-white, grow in corymbose clusters, and have a disagreeable odour. They 

 are succeeded by flattened winged capsules, somewhat resembling those of the 

 elm ; whence the French name orme. 



Varieties. The varieties which have come under the notice of botanists are 

 as follows : 



1. P. T. PENTAPHYLLA, Muuch. Five-leaflet-kaved Shrubby Trefoil. This vari- 

 ety can generally be distinguished in having five leaflets. 



2. P. T. PUEEscENs, Pursh. Pnbescent-leajlet-leaved Shrubby Trefoil. This 

 variety is described as having its branchlets, petioles, and lower surface of its 

 leaves clothed with a soft tomentose pubescence, even when old. 



Geography., History, ^'c. This species is found in moist, shady hedges, and 

 on the borders of woods among rocks, from Lake Ontario to Florida, and as far 

 west as Kentucky and Texas. It was originally sent to England by Banister, 

 and plants of it were raised by Bishop Compton, at Fulham ; but they were lost, 

 and the species was re-introduced from Carolina by Catcsby, in 1724. Being 

 hardy, and of easy culture, in any ordinary soil, tins tree is not uncommon in 

 the collections of Europe, and it well deserves a place there, as well as in those 

 of the United States, both on account of the beauty of its leaves and fruit, and 

 its general appearance. 

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