52 



SILVA OF NORTH AMERICA. 



ULMACE^. 



ovate rounded lobes^ and is as long as the ovary^ which is raised on a short slender stipe and is coated 

 with dense white tomentum. The fruity which ripens just before or with the unfolding of the leaves, 

 is obloncr, a third of an inch long, contracted at the base into a long slender stalk, gradually narrowed 



coated with long white hairs which are most 



with large incurved horns, and 



and tipped at the apex 



numerous on the thickened margin of the narrow wing. The seed is ovate, pointed, an eighth of an 



inch long, and covered with a pale chestnut-brow 



slightly thickened 



wing-like 



margin. 



Ulmus alata usually grows on dry gravelly uplands, and sometimes in rich alluvial soil on the 

 borders of swamps and near the banks of streams, and is distributed from southern Virginia through 

 the middle districts to western Florida, and from southern Indiana and Illinois through western Ken- 

 tucky and Tennessee to the shores of the Gulf of Mexico and through southern Missouri,^ Arkansas, 

 and the eastern portions of the Indian Territory to the valley of the Trinity River in Texas, growing 

 to its largest size and most abundantly in the region west of the Mississippi River. 



The wood of Ulmus alata is heavy, hard, although not strong, close-grained and difficult to split ; 

 it contains inconspicuous remote medullary rays, and is light brown, with thick Hghter colored sapwood. 

 The specific gravity of the absolutely dry wood is 0.7491, a cubic foot weighing 46.68 pounds. It is 

 sometimes employed for the hubs of small wheels and the handles of tools. From the inner bark rope 

 used for fastening the covers on cotton-bales has been made.^ 



Ulmiis alata^ was first described in the Flora Caroliniana of Walter, published in 1788. The 

 good habit, rapid growth, small size, and abundant foliage of the Wahoo make it a desirable ornamental 



tree, and it is often planted in the southern states to shade the streets of towns and villages. According 

 to Loudon,^ it was introduced into English gardens in 1820. 



1 Broadhead, Bot. Gazette, iii. 60, 



2 Porcher, Resources of Southern Fields and Forests, 311. 



3 In Arkansas Ulmus alata is sometimes called Red Elm and 

 Mountain Elm (F. L. Harvey, Am, Jour. Forestry^ i. 451). 



4 Loudon, Arb. Brit. iii. 1408, f. 1248. 



EXPLANATION OF THE PLATE. 



Plate CCCXIII. Ulmus alata. 



1. A flowering branch, natural size. 



2. A flower, enlarged. 



3. A pistil, enlarged. 



4. Vertical section of a pistil, enlarged 



5. A fruiting branch, natural size. 



6. A fruit, enlarged. 



7. Vertical section of a fruit, enlarged. 

 8- An embryo, enlarged. 



9. A summer branch, natural size. 



