The Trees of Vermont 135 



URTICACEAE 



Cork Elm 



Ulmus racemosa Thomas [Ulmus Thomasi Sarg.] 



Habit. — A large tree reaching a height of 50-75 feet and a trunk 

 diameter of 2-3 feet ; strongly drooping lateral and lower branches 

 form a narrow, oblong crown. 



Leaves. — Alternate, simple, 3-6 inches long, one-half as broad ; 

 obovate to oblong-oval, more or less dished ; coarsely doubly serrate ; 

 thick and firm ; lustrous, dark green above, pale-pubescent beneath ; 

 petioles pubescent, ^ inch long. 



Flowers. — April-May, before the leaves ; mostly perfect ; 

 greenish ; borne on slender, drooping pedicels in loose racemes ; calyx 

 campanulate, 7-8-lobed ; corolla ; stamens 7-8, with purple anthers ; 

 ovary hairy, 2-styled. 



Fruit. — May-June ; ovate, 1 -seeded samaras, pubescent all over, 

 Yz inch long. 



Winter-buds. — Terminal bud absent ; lateral buds ovoid, acute, 

 brown, pilose, ^ inch long. 



Bark. — Twigs at first light brown and pubescent, becoming 

 lustrous, red-brown, finally gray-brown with corky, wing-like ridges ; 

 thick and grayish on the trunk, with wide fissures separating broad, 

 flat, scaly ridges. 



Wood. — Heavy, very strong and tough, close-grained, light red- 

 brown, with thick, lighter colored sapwood. 



Distribution. — Western Vermont, west of the Green mountains, 

 becoming relatively more abundant in the Champlain valley ; rare. 



Habitat. — River-banks and limestone soils. 



Notes. — The cork elm is a more valuable timber tree but it is 

 found only in the limestone soils of western Vermont, and there but 

 rarely. Its peculiarity is a growth of corky ridges which sometimes 

 I)roject for half an inch or more from all sides of the younger branches. 

 The leaves resemble those of the white elm but are more conspicuously 

 downy upon the under side along the midribs. The bud-scales are also 

 downy and the young branchlets somewhat so, whereas those of the 

 white elm are smooth. The flowers are borne in open branching 

 clusters, or racemes, and this characteristic gives the Latin name to the 

 species. The fruit matures when the leaves are half grown. 



