NANTUCKET TREES 23 



also reached old age in the town. There are two tall 

 examples of the tree on Orange Street across from the 

 Inquirer and Mirror office and a younger tree shades the 

 office on the south. Pleasant Street, near Main, is 

 shaded by fine Scotch elms and their seedlings are start- 

 ing in the hedges. It is at 16 Cliff Road, however, 

 that one may see best the distinctive beauty of the 

 Scotch elm where the sturdy trees fill the corner lot. 

 The Scotch elm is more round-topped than the white elm 

 and its branches start lower from the sturdy trunk. The 

 bark is less deeply ridged, but its most distinctive 

 difference is in the leaf. Below the tip it broadens 

 abruptly giving often an effect of triple points. Ulmus 

 uum.il a Linn., native of northern Asia, is of more re- 

 cent planting on Nantucket than the two other species 

 of elms. There are many of these young trees about town 

 and a few are old enough to show their willow-like habit. 

 The pendulous branches are set with small leaves, the 

 elm leaves in miniature. On the east side of North 

 Liberty Street, near Cliff Road, a Chinese elm overtops 

 a grey-shingled house. It is well worth the walk from 

 town to see its branches sway in the Nantucket winds. 

 This species should prove a valuable addition on the 

 Nantucket streets. It is said to be immune to most of 

 the ills to which the white elm is susceptible. 



Next to the elm, the maple ranks as the typical 

 New England shade tree. Although less graceful than the 

 feathery elm, its domed contour has a satisfying symmetry. 

 The difference in contour of elm and maple traces back 

 to a difference in leaf position on the twig. The elm 

 belongs to the group of alternate-leaved, and the maple 

 to the group of opposite-leaved plants. Their habit of 

 branches carries out the same difference. One may see 

 this character where twigs are silhouetted against the 

 sky. 



On the mainland of New England the sugar maple, 

 Acer saccharum Marsh., is the typical native maple. It 

 is distinctive in March for its sugary sap, in May for 

 its honey-yellow blossom clusters which make the tree 

 against a blue sky seem like pure sunshine, in September 

 for its flaming foliage. The sugar maple does not take 

 to Nantucket. Two trees near the corner of Main and 



