Leaves Alternate. 47 



Fig. 23. — Slippery Elm, Red Elm. U.fulva, Michaux, U. rubra, 



■ Michaux,/. 



Leaves, simple ; alternate ; edge sharply and doubly 



TOOTHED. 



Outline, oval or long egg-shape. Apex, taper-pointed. 

 Base, slightly heart-shaped or rounded. 



Leaf-stem, about one eighth inch long, stout and rough. 

 Buds hairy. 



Leaf, four to seven inches long, three to four inches wide. 

 The upper surface is rough both ways, and very rough 

 downwards, almost like a fine file. The under sur- 

 face is slightly rough. 



The ribs beneath are prominent and straight, and hairy 

 in their angles. 



Bark of the larger branches, brownish ; branchlets, light- 

 gray and very rozegh, becoming grayish-purple. The 

 inner bark is very gummy and "slippery." 



Seeds, flat, round, winged, but not fri?iged. Last of May. 



Found, along the lower St. Lawrence to Ontario, and 

 from Western New England westward and south- 

 ward ; in woods and along streams. 



A tree thirty to forty feet high. Its wood is hard 

 and strong, but splits easily when dry. Though otherwise 

 inferior, for posts it is superior to white elm. Its inner 

 bark is sold by druggists as "slippery elm," and is nutri- 

 tious and medicinal. Its name of red elm is due to the 

 reddish-brown tinge of its large rounded and hairy buds 

 in the spring. 



The English Elm [U. campestris, L.] was introduced 

 early, and is often found in cultivation. It differs from 

 the white elm, especially in these items : 



Leaves, usually smaller, and more closely placed upon the 

 branch. 



