500 
ULMUS AMERICANA. 
der foot-stalks, and are united in bunches at the extremity of the branches. The 
seeds, which are contained in flat oval, fringed capsules, notched at the base, 
arrive at maturity, in the northern parts of the United States, from the middle of 
May to the first of June. 
Varieties. The Ulmus americana, like its European congener, has compara- 
tively, the same aptitude to vary from seeds, and has already given rise to seve- 
ral varieties ; but, as such a state of confusion exists in botanical works, not only 
as relates to the American elms, but to all others of the genus, and as the obser- 
vations and experiments as regards their culture and growth, have been some- 
what limited, it is difficult to determine whether they all belong to one race, or 
consist of several distinct species, a problem which can never be satisfactorily 
solved before they are studied and cultivated under the most varied circum- 
stances, during a period of several years. As with the European elms, we have 
classified them all under one head, giving, as usual, among our synonymes, the 
names under which they are described as species, by one or more authors. 
1. U. a. subsessilifolia. Subsessile-leaved American Elm ; Ulmus americana, 
of authors ; a large tree, with divergent branches, indigenous chiefly to the Alle- 
ghany Mountains, sometimes attaining a height of seventy or eighty feet. The 
leaves, which are three or four inches long, are subsessile, ovate-acuminate, 
doubly serrate, oblique, and sub-cordate at the base, rough above, and slightly 
pubescent beneath. 
2. U. a. alba, Loudon. Whitish-branched American Elm ; a tree native of 
Louisiana and other states, growing to a height of fifty or sixty feet, having long, 
flexible, hanging branches, with whitish bark. The leaves are oblong, obliquely- 
acute at the base, doubly-denticulate, rough and lucid above, and villous beneath. 
3. U. a. pendula, Loudon. Pendulous-branched American Elm. 
4. U. a. rubra, Loudon. Reddish-branched American Elm, with the branches 
red, and the leaves ovate, rugose, and rough. 
5. U. a. foliis variegatis, Loudon. Variegated-leaved American Elm. 
6. U. a. racemosa. Racemose-flowered American Elm ; Ulmus racemosa, of 
Nuttall, Gray and Torrey, and others ; Orme a grappe, of the French ; Trauben- 
Ulme, of the Germans ; Thomas' Elm, Norhern Cork-barked Elm, of the Anglo- 
Americans. This variety was first described 
and figured by Mr. David Thomas, of Cayuga 
county, in the state of New York, in the nine- 
teenth volume of Silliman's " American Journal 
of Science and Art." It abounds throughout 
western New York, and is also found in Can- 
ada and Vermont. The large primary branches 
produce corky excrescences, somewhat like 
those of the wahoo elm (Ulmus a. alata.) 
The leaves are broadly-ovate, acuminate, doubly- 
serrated, glabrous, and somewhat shining above, 
with the under surface and ribs slightly pubes- 
cent. The flowers, which are yellow, and appear 
in April or May, are small, distinctly pedicellate, 
and, unlike those of any other elm, are dis- 
posed in racemes, composed of several clusters 
of two to four together, and extending from the 
length of from one inch to two inches and a 
half, often furnished with one or two small, but 
perfect leaves, before the opening of the termi- 
nal buds. The samarge are large, of an elliptic form, very pubescent, thickly 
fringed on the margin, with their membranes more extended on one side, as indi- 
