3/0 flint's NATURAL HISTORY. [Book XVI. 



CHAP. 29. (17.) — FOUR VARIETIES OF TIIE ELM. 



Midway between the preceding ones and the fruit-trees 

 stands the elm, partaking of the nature of the former in its 

 wood, and being akin to the latter in the friendship which it 

 manifests for the vine. 8 The Greeks distinguish two varieties of 

 this tree : the mountain 9 elm, w r hich is the larger of the two, 

 and that of the plains, which is more shrubby. Italy gives 

 the name of " Atinia" 10 to the more lofty kinds, and gives the 

 preference to those which are of a dry nature and will not 

 grow in damp localities. Another variety is the Gallic elm, 11 

 and a third, the Italian, 12 with leaves lying closer together, and 

 springing in greater numbers from a single stalk. A fourth 

 kind is the wild elm. The Atinia does not produce any 

 samara, 13 that being the name given to the seed of the elm. 

 All the elms will grow from slips or cuttings, and all of them, 

 with the exception of the Atinia, may be propagated from 

 seed. 



CHAP. 30. (18.) THE NATURES OF THE VARIOUS TREES ACCORDING 



TO THEIR LOCALITIES ! THE MOUNTAIN TREES, AND THE TREES 

 OF THE PLAIN. 



Having now made mention of the more remarkable trees, it 

 remains for me to state some general facts connected with 

 them all. The cedar, the larch, the torch-tree, and the other 

 resinous trees prefer mountainous localities : u the same is 

 the case also with the aquifolia, the box, the holm-oak, the 

 juniper, the terebinth, the poplar, the wild mountain-ash, and 



8 Although (in common, too, with other trees) it is used as a support for 

 the vine, that does not any the more make it of the same nature as the 

 fruit-trees. 



9 The Ulmus cffusa of Willdenow ; the Ulmus montana of Smith : Flor. 

 Brit. 



10 The Ulmus campestris of Linnseus ; the Ulmus marita of other be- 

 tanists, n The ordinary elm, Fee thinks. 



:2 A variety of the Ulmus campestris, probably. 



13 This name is still preserved by botanists. Pliny is incorrect in saying 

 that the large elm produces no seed, the only difference being that the seed 

 is smaller than in the other kinds. Columella, B. v. c. 6, contradicts the 

 statement here made by Pliny, but says that it appears to be sterile, in 

 comparison with the others. 



14 The Tinas maritima of Linnaeus, which produces the greater part of 

 the resins used in France, is found, however, in great abundance in the 

 fiat country of the Landes. 



