82 FAMILIAR TREES 



Dr. Prior was of opinion that " Wych " was the 

 early English " Hwsecce," the French " Huche," a 

 chest, our modern " Hutch," the wood of this tree 

 being used in making such chests. 



From the resemblance of the name which is 

 indeed not infrequently written " Witch " the tree 

 has been considered a preservative against witchcraft, 

 and in the midland counties a small piece of its wood 

 used accordingly to be let into the churns, under the 

 belief that without it the butter would not come. 



The name, like that of the Common Elm, is 

 applied to a number of tolerably distinct forms rather 

 than to a well-marked typical species. These forms 

 all agree in producing no suckers ; their branches are 

 usually pendulous; the "samara," or winged seed- 

 vessel, is more or less elliptical, with the seed-cavity 

 below the middle, and the seed is fertile. Though 

 characters like that of the position of the seed-cavity 

 in the fruit appear trivial to the unbotanical, they are 

 often, as in this case, the most readily detected ; and 

 when we become familiar Avith the general appearance 

 of growing plants such distinctions are often borne 

 out by differences which it is more difficult to de- 

 scribe in words. The Wych Elms do not grow to 

 quite so great a height as the Common Elms, though 

 they equal them in girth. In some forms the bark 

 is corky, but not in others ; but in all the twigs are 

 usually downy, and the leaves for the most part 

 large, coarsely and irregularly toothed, and unequally 

 or " obliquely " rounded at the base. The leaves thus 

 closely resemble those of the Hazel, from which fact 

 the tree obtained its old name of Wych Hazel. 



