ULMACE^. 



SILVA OF NORTH AMERICA. 



69 



tomentum, bright green, glabrous^ and very lustrous ; in the staminate flower it is reduced to a minute 

 point ; the stigmas, which are covered with white papillse, and are a quarter of an inch across when 



expanded, mature before the filaments of the staminate flowers begin to straighten. The 



fruit 



IS 



oblong, one half to three quarters of an inch in length, tipped with the remnants of the style, and dark 

 purple; it consists of a thick tough skin, thin dry orange-colored flesh, and a smooth thick-walled 

 oblong pointed apiculate light brown nutlet, deep orange-color and lustrous on the inner surface. The 

 seed is covered with a thin membranaceous light brown coat marked at the chalaza with a large dark 

 circular spot. The fruit hangs on a slender stem one half to three quarters of an inch long and slightly 

 enlarged at the apex, from which it separates in falHng ; it ripens in September and October, and, 

 unless eaten by birds, often remains on the branches during the winter. 



In Canada, where Celtis occideiitalls is exceedingly rare and local,^ it is distributed from Saint 

 Helen's Island in the St. Lawrence River, near Montreal, westward to southern Ontario, and in the 

 United States from the shores of Massachusetts Bay to northwestern Nebraska,^ North Dakota, southern 

 Idaho,^ eastern Washington and Oregon,* western Washington,^ the East Humboldt Mountains of 

 Nevada,^ New Mexico,^ and southward to the shores of Bay Biscayne and Cape Romano in Florida, and 

 to Missouri, eastern Kansas, Arkansas, the Indian Territory, and eastern Texas. Rare east of the 

 Hudson River, Celtis occidentalis becomes more abundant in western New York and the middle states, 

 and attains its greatest size on the rich bottom-lands of the lower Ohio basin, where it is one of the 



commonest 



forests of Oaks, Hickories, and Wain 



8 



usually 



moist soil 



and often, especially in the east, on dry gravelly or rocky hillsides. West of the Rocky Mountains it 

 is exceedingly rare, and is confined to the banks of streams in positions where it is frequently inundated 

 during periods of high water, and where it is a small tree or shrub rarely thirty feet tall, with thick 

 rigid scabrous conspicuously reticulate leaves. On the rocky banks of streams a dwarf shrubby form ^ 

 with stems four to ten feet tall and small usually rugose leaves is not uncommon in the south Atlantic 

 states, from which it ranges westward to Missouri, Colorado, Utah, and Nevada. 



The wood of Celtis occidentalis is heavy, rather soft, not strong, and coarse-grained, containing 

 bands of several rows of large open ducts marking the layers of annual growth, numerous small groups 

 of smaller ducts arranged in intermediate concentric rings, and many thin medullary rays ; it is clear 

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

 0.7287, a cubic foot weighing 45.41 pounds. It is largely used for fencing and for cheap furniture. 



Celtis occidentalis was introduced into English gardens by the younger Tradescant ^^ about the 

 middle of the seventeenth century, and the first description of it, made from a plant cultivated in 

 England, was published in 1688 in Ray's Historia Plant anmi}^ 



A tall stately tree in the basin of the Ohio River, where its slender shafts covered with smooth 

 pale bark enhven the forests which clothe the banks of streams and rich intervale lands, the Hackberry ^^ 



1 Brunet, Cat. Veg. Lig. Can, 45. 



- Bessey, Rep. Nebraska State Board Agric. 1894, 105. 



3 Celtis occidentalis was found by Dr. J. E. Wilcox, U. S. A., 

 near Boisd City, Idaho, in 1881, 



* It was discovered in the valley of the Snake River by David 

 Douglas early in the present century. 



429. 6, 436. — Koehne, Deutsche Dendr. 137. — Dippel, Handh. Laubholzk 



Expl 



Expedition under command of Commodore W 



Wilkes 



Exped. 456). 



6 Watson, King's Rep. 321 (y^T, pumila). 



7 Fendler, Plantce Nova-Mexicance^ No. 775. 



8 Ridgway, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus. 1882, 72. 



9 Celtis occidentalis, yar. pumilay Gray, Man. ed. 2, 397 (1856). 



ii. 44. 



Celtis pumila, Pursh, Fl. Am. Sept. i. 200 (1814). — Roemer & 

 Schultes, Syst. iii. 307. — Rafinesque, New FL iii. 36. — Loudon, 



Arb. Brit. iii. 1420. 

 10 See i. 20. 



400 



11 LotitrS arbor Virginiana fructu rubroy ii. 1917. 

 1- In the eastern states Celtis occidentalis is sometimes called 

 Nettle-tree or False Elm ; as it is also called Hogberry and Dog 



Cherry. 



Celtis fructu obscure purpurascente, Tournefort, Inst. G12. — Mil- 

 ler, Diet. No. 1 ; Did. Icon. i. 59, t. 88. — Duhamel, Traite des 



Arbres, i. 143. 



Celtis procera, foliis ovate-lanceolatis, serratls ; frv^tu pullo, Clay- 



Curtis, Rep. Geolog. Surv. N. Car. 1860, iii. 62. — Chapman, Fl. ton, Fl. Virgin. 195. 



417. 



434 



Gray 



