THE ELM-TBEE FAMIXT. 205 



Periantli single, irregular, pentamerous, or nearly so ; stamens about 

 five ; stigmas two. Fruit flat, thin, green, resembling a little leaf, 

 with a notch at the top, and a solitary seed in the centre, and ripening 

 as the young leaves come forth. (Fig. 134.) 



Elm-trees are natives of the North of Europe, Asia, and America ; 

 also of the mountains of China and India, and in the former countries 

 are highly valued for their timber, as well as for their stateliness and 

 picturesque habit of growth, though in some species this is not realized. 

 The wood is soft, tough, and coarse. Several supposed species have 

 been described by authors as natives of our island, some raising the 

 number to six, but all, it would appear, are resolvable into two, both 

 of which occur near Manchester. 



1. Fruit roundish, slightly notched at the top, the seed-bearing 

 cavity placed considerably below the notch. Perianth usually 

 five or six-cleft ; stamens five or six 



■ Wych Elm. 



2. Fruit oblong, deeply notched, the notch almost reaching the ) 



seed-bearing cavity. Perianth usually four-cleft; stamens | Common Elm. 

 four j 



HABITATS AND LOCALITIES. 

 1. "Wych Elm — [Ulmus montana.) 

 Hedges, and in most places where trees grow, especially near river- 

 sides. Abundant about Marple and Agecroft, and apparently quite 

 wild. Fl. March, April. 



E. B. xxvii. 1887 ; Baxter, v. 386, 

 A tree of considerable size, the large branches spreading from near the ground, 

 unless drawn up while young. When, in early spring, the bare, dark upper 

 twigs put forth their httle umbels of flowers, insignificant as they are in the hand, 

 the rich ^inous tint they give to the tree is grateful and pleasing. Afterwards, in 

 !May and the beginning of June, the clusters of leafliiie fruits form a new and 

 conspicuous ornament, thickly covering the extremities of the young branches, 

 and when they fall, the ground is strewed with them as plentifully as by the 

 leaves of autumn. The fohage, before decay, turns brownish-yellow. 



2. Common Elm — {Ulmus campestris.) 



Woods, hedges, parks, plantations, and by waysides, common, but 



probably in every case planted, unless about Mobberley. Fl. March, 



April. 



E. B. xxvii. 1886. 



Whether the elm be indigenous anywhere in this country is more than doubtful. 

 Central and southern and eastern Europe, and western Asia, are its truly native 



