1406 ARBORETUM AND FRUTICETUM, PART III. 
¥ 9. U. amertca‘Na L. The American Elm. 
Identification. Lin. Sp: Pl., 327. ; Willd. Sp. Pl., 1. p. 1325., exclusive of the var. 7; Willd. Enum. 
Hort. Berol., p. 295., and Suppl., p. 14. ; Poiret. Encycl. Méth., 4. p. 611. ; Michx. Fl. Bor. Amer., 2. 
p- 172.; Roem. et Schult. Syst., 6. p. 300.; Pursh Fl. Amer. Sept., 1. p. 199., exclusive of the var. 
8; Michx, Arb., 3. p. 269.; North Amer. Sylva, 3. p. 83. t. 126.; Ait. Hort. Kew., No. 3., exclusive 
of the var. pendula ; Smith in Rees’s Cyclop., No. 7. ; Lodd. Cat., ed. 1836. 
Synonymes. 'The white Elm, Amer.; the Canadian Elm; the American white Elm. 
Engravings. Michx. North Amer. Sylva, 3. t. 126.; and our fig. 1246. 
Spee. Char., §c. Leaf with the petiole 1—13 in. long, and hairy with short 
hairs; and the disk unequal at the base, 4—45 in. long, inclusive of a long 
acuminate point, 2—24in. broad, serrate, and mostly doubly so; the axils 
of the veins underneath joined by a membrane. Flowers peduneled, eifuse ; 
peduncles short, glabrous. Stamens 5 and 8. Samara fiiinged at the edge 
with hairs, ovate, acute. (Willd. Enum. and Suppl., Rem. et Schult. Syst. 
Veg.) This species is readily distinguishable from others by the membrane 
which appears at the axils of the veins. (Willd. Enum. Suppl.) Young 
branches brown, with short, very fine hairs. Leaves deeply green above, 
almost glossy, rough; beneath, pale, downy. Flowers like those of U. effiisa. 
Wild in North America, in low woods, from New England to Carolina. 
A tree, growing, in North America, to the height of 80 ft. or 100 ft. Intro- 
duced in 1752; but rarely flowering, and never ripening seeds, in England. 
Varieties. 
¥ U. a. lL rubra Ait. Hort. Kew., i. p. 319.— Branches red. Leaves ovate, 
rugose, rough. (Rem. et Schult. Syst. Veg.) 
¥ U. a. 2 dlba Ait. Hort. Kew., i. p.319.; Marsh., p. 250. — Branches 
whitish. Leaves oblong, rough. ? U. mollifolia. (ta@m. et Schult. 
Syst. Veg.) 
¥ U.a.3 péndula Pursh Fl. Amer. Sept., i. p. 200., Ait. Hort. Kew., 
1. p. 319., Lodd. Cat., ed. 1836. — Branches pendulous, 
* U. a. & incisa H. S. See the plate in our last Volume. — This variety 
differs from the other varieties, in having the leaves somewhat more 
deeply serrated, and rather smaller, approaching nearer to those of 
U. effisa. There is a tree in the Horticultural Society’s Garden, 
which, in 1834, was 27 ft. high. 
Description, §c. The leaves of the white American elm, according to 
Michaux, are 4:in. or 5in, long, borne on short petioles, alternate, unequal at 
the base, oval-acuminate, and doubly denticulated : they are generally smaller 
than those of the red elm (U’Imus (a.) falva). The flowers 
appear before the leaves, and are very small; of a purple af 
colour, supported by short slender footstalks, and united in’ yy’ 
bunches at the extremity of the branches. The seeds are 
contained in flat, oval, fringed capsules, notched at the base. { if) I 
The trunk is covered with a tender white bark, very deeply Yay We 
furrowed. In favourable situations, on the banks of rivers, “SS 
the tree reaches a great height, and displays extraordinary 
magnificence of vegetation. “In clearing the primitive 
forests,” says Michaux, “ a few specimens of the white elm \ 
are sometimes left standing. Insulated in this manner, it 
appears in all its majesty, towering to the height of 80 ft. or 4, 
100 ft., with a trunk 4 ft. or 5 ft. in diameter; regularly {, 
shaped, naked, and insensibly diminishing to the height of \ 
60 ft. or 70ft.; when it divides itself into two or three x. 
primary limbs. The limbs, not widely divergent near the 1246 
base, approach and cross each other’ 8 ft. or 10 ft. higher; and diffuse on 
all sides long, flexible, pendulous branches, bending into regular arches, and 
floating lightly in the air. A singularity is observed in this tree, which I 
have witnessed in no other: two small limbs, 4ft. or 5ft. long, grow in a 
reversed position near the first ramification, and descend along the trunk.” 
(N. Amer. Syl., iii. p. 85.) In New Hampshire, he adds, “ a great number of 
young white elms are seen detached in the middle ef the pastures: they 
