48 



SILVA OF NORTH AMERICA. 



ULMACE^. 



become more 



racemose by the lengthening of the axis of the inflorescence^ which^ when fully 



fc> 



sometimes two inches in length \ they are produced 



on elongated slender drooping pedicel 



often half an inch 



lengthy 



those of the 



flowers being developed from the axils of 



obovate pointed bracts scarious and brown above the middle, a third of an inch long, terminated by tufts 



bractlets smaller than the bract, but otherwise 



or eight rounded 



of lono- white hairs, and furnished at the base with 



resembling 

 dark red j 



The calyx is green, and is divided nearly to the middle into seven 



lobes* which 



soon 



turn b 



own and wither. The stamens, with slender light green 

 filaments and dark purple anthers, are exserted. The ovary is coated with long pale hairs, particularly 

 on the thin margins, and is crowned by the hght green styles. The fruit, which ripens in May, when 

 the leaves are about half grown, is ovate or obovate-oblong, and half an inch in length, with a shallow 

 open notch at the apex ; it is obscurely veined, covered with short pale pubescence, and ciliate on the 



broad wing j the margin of the seminal cavity is scarcely thickened. 



slightly thickened border of the 



and the line of union of the two carpels is obsolete. 



Ulmits racemosa is distributed from the eastern townships of the Province of Quebec,^ where it is 

 rare, westward through Ontario, and southward through northwestern New Hampshire, where it is rare 

 and local, to southern Vermont ; it ranges westward in the United States through northern New York 



and southern Michigan to northeastern Nebraska,^ southeastern Missouri, and middle Tennessee. 



The Rock Elm grows on dry gravelly uplands, where its most frequent companion is the Sugar 

 Maple, on low heavy clay soil, rocky slopes, and river cliffs. Comparatively rare in the east and toward 

 the extreme western and southern hmits of its range, it is most abundant and attains its largest size in 

 Ontario and the southern peninsula of Michigan. 



The wood of Ulmus racemosa is heavy, hard, very strong and tough, close-grained, and suscep- 

 tible of receiving a beautiful polish ; it contains numerous obscure medullary rays and bands of one or 

 two rows of small open ducts marking the layers of annual growth. It is light clear brown, often 

 tinged with red, with thick lighter colored sapwood. The specific gravity of the absolutely dry wood is 

 0.7263, a cubic foot weighing 45.26 pounds. It is largely employed in the manufacture of heavy 

 agricultural implements, hke plows and mowing and threshing machines, for the framework of chairs, 

 for the hubs of wheels and the beams of stump pullers, for railway ties, bridge timbers, the sills of large 

 buildings, and other purposes where strength, toughness, sohdity, and flexibility are required. 



Ulmits racemosa was first distinguished by David Thomas^ in Cayuga County, New York, who 

 pubHshed the earliest account of it in 1831. 



The value of the wood of the Rock Elm threatens its extinction ; and most of the large trees have 

 abeady been cut in the forests of Canada, New England, New York, and Michigan. The Rock Elm^ is 

 sometimes planted as a shade-tree in the region which it inhabits naturally, and although it grows 

 rather more slowly than the White Elm, it is a handsome and distinct ornamental tree, which planters 

 have too generally neglected. 



3 



1 Brunet, Cat Veg. Lig, Can. 45. — Bell, Geolog. Rep. Can, and pomology, and by his writings on these subjects, which were 

 1879-80, 55°. — Macoun, Cat Can, PL 428. principally published in the Genesee Farmer^ rendered conspicuous 



2 In Nebraska Ulmus racemosa is now known to occur only near services to agricultural science. In 1819, Mr. Thomas published 



Meadville, in Keya Paha County 

 Board Agric. 1894, 105). 



Nebraska 



Mass, XXV 



at Auburn, New York, Travels through the Western Country in the 

 Year 1816. In addition to his account of Ulmus racemosa he con- 

 tributed to the American Journal of Science and Arts, Some Account 

 4 David Thomas (1776-1859) was a native of Montgomery of the Chrysomela vitivora (xxvi. 113, t.) ; Remarks on the Specif c 



County, Pennsylvania, of Quaker parentage, and by profession -^ Character of Corydalisformosa and Corydalis Canadensis (^vllU); 



civil engineer. In 1805 lie settled near Aurora in Cayuga County, and Description of a New Species of Liatris (xxxvii. 338, f.). 



New York, subsequently becoming the chief engineer of the western 



portion of the Erie Canal, and later one of the principal engineers Elm, and ClifB Elm. 



Ulmus racemosa is sometimes known as Hickory Elm, White 



Welland 



He was much interested in horticulture 



