CLASS V. ORDER H. J ULMUS. 4,'J3 



\viih a small oblong smooth bractea at the base. Perianth of one 

 piece, the limb of four or live roundish oblong reddish green lobes, 

 smooth, or somewhat hairy. Stamens four or five, with \ongjilamenisi 

 and ovate purplish two celled anthers. Stigmas downy. Capsule 

 roundish oblong, yellowish green, deeply notched at the apex to the 

 oblong, brown, shining, single seeded cells. 



Habitat. Hedges ; frequent. 



Tree; flowering in March and April. 



This species, probably not indigenous, is readily distinguished by the 

 shape of its leaves, the form of the tree, and the much winged branches, 

 with corky excrescences, which crack into deep fissures, and fall off 

 as the branches increases in thickness. Numerous varieties are pro- 

 duced by cultivation, in the shape of the leaves, and the more or less 

 winged excrescences of its bark. The wood appears less durable in its 

 quality than the last species. Both are more or less cultivated in 

 almost all parts of Italy, planted on the borders of the fields, inter- 

 mixed with poplar, maple, and other trees. The leading branch is cut 

 off when the trees are young to force it to put out more numerous and 

 stronger lateral branches. On the trunks of these trees the more 

 slender stem of the vine is trained, and its pliant branches festooned 

 in every graceful form of its native elegance give a beautiful charac- 

 ter to the landscape, and are a rich feature in the scene, especially in 

 the Autumnal months, when laden wiih the generous fruit, deeply 

 blushing in its purple hues. 



3. U. ma'jor, Smith. (Fig. 497.) Dutch Cork-barked Elm. Leaves 

 ovate, acuminate, very oblique, and subcordate at the base, sharply, 

 doubly, and regularly serrated, always scabrous above, pubescent 

 below, with dense tufts of white hairs in the axilla ; branches spread- 

 ing, bright brown, much winged, with corky excrescences, when young 

 nearly smooth ; fruit ovate, slightly cloven. 



English Botany, t. 2542. English Flora, vol. ii. p. 22. Hooker, 

 British Flora, vol. i. p. 144. Lindley, Synopsis, p. 226. 



Trunk straight, with rigid spreading or slightly drooping branches, 

 mostly very rugged, and thickly clothed with corky excrescences, of a 

 smooth brown colour, the young shoots scattered over with soft pu- 

 bescence. Leaves larger than the last species, ovate, with an acuminated 

 point, rather long and slender, very oblique at the base, in a somewhat 

 heart-shaped manner, the margin deeply serrated, with sharp, regular, 

 doubly serrated, somewhat curved teeth, always scabrous above, paler 

 and downy on the under side, with dense tufts in the axis of the 

 prominent mid-rib, and nearly straight lateral veins, the footstalk short 

 and thick. Flowers numerous, much earlier than the leaves, in dense 

 tufts, bursting through the brown obtuse scaly buds, each flower on a 

 short footstalk, from the base of a small lanceolate bractea. Perianth 

 of one piece, the limb of four or five short roundish oblong segments, 



