3408 



ULEX 



ULMUS 



showy yellow papilionaceous flowers which are axillary 

 and often crowded at the ends of the branches. They 

 are not hardy North, but under protection they survive 

 the winters in New England. They are valuable as sand- 

 binders for covering dry sandy banks and are also well 

 suited for seaside planting. On account of their dark 

 green branches they have the appearance of evergreen 

 plants and they are very showy when covered with their 

 yellow flowers. They are also sometimes used for low 

 hedges. They prefer sandy or gravelly porous soil and 

 a sunny position; in rich garden soil they grow more 

 rampant, but do not bloom so well. They should be 

 sown where they are to stand, as they do not bear 

 transplanting well, or if this is not feasible, they should 

 be sown singly in small pots and the plants then planted 

 out in their permanent places. Propagation is by seeds 

 sown in spring after the danger from frost has passed: 

 by greenwood cuttings under glass; or by cuttings of 

 nearly mature wood in early summer in a coldframe 

 under glass, forming roots the following spring. Varie- 

 ties and rarer kinds are sometimes grafted in spring in 

 the greenhouse on U. europasus. 



europseus, Linn. FURZE. GORSE. WHIN. Fig. 3876. 

 Much-branched very spiny rigid shrub, 2-4 ft. high: 

 branchlets striped, villous when young: Ivs. scale-like 

 or narrow-lanceolate, pubescent: fls. axillary, 1-3, 

 crowded at the end of the branches and forming 

 racemes; corolla bright yellow, about %in. long, fra- 



grant; calyx yellow, hairy: pod oblong, over %in. long, 

 villous, dark brown. April, June and often again in 

 Sept., Oct.; in Calif, almost the whole year. W. and S. 

 Eu; naturalized in waste places in the Middle Atlantic 

 states and also on Vancouver Isl. S.E.B. 3:323. R.F.G. 

 22:2068. G.W. 17, p. 285. There is a variety with 

 double fls., var. plenus, Schneid. (var. flore-pleno, 

 Loud.). Gn. 63, p. 441. G.M. 52:393. Another variety 

 is var. strictus, Webb, of upright, pyramidal habit and 

 less spiny, but as it does not bloom freely, it is of little 

 value. 



nanus, Fprst. Dwarf shrub of dense habit, similar to 

 the preceding species, but smaller in every part, less 

 rigid and with slenderer spines: fls. about ^in. long, 

 with the wings straight and shorter than the keel; 

 calyx slightly downy, not hairy: pod J^in. long, 

 nearly inclosed in the calyx. Autumn. W. Eu., Eng- 

 land to Spain. S.I.F. 3:325. R.F.G. 22:2068, 3. 



ALFRED REHDER. 



TJLLUCUS (native name). Chenopodiacese; Volkens 

 in Engler's Pflanzenfamilien places this in Basellacese. 

 Fleshy perennial herbs, decumbent and climbing, 

 grown in Peru and Chile for the tubers: rhizomes 



1 234 



3877. Elm fruits. 1, Ulmus americana; 2, U. racemosa; 3, U. 

 4, U. fulva; 5, U. glabra. (X2) 



creeping, roots tuber-bearing: sts. angulate: Ivs. alter- 

 nate^ thick, petioled, rotund-cordate: fls. hermaphro- 

 dite, in axillary, large, lax-fid, racemes, golden yellow; 

 perianth rotate, 5-parted, tube very short; stamens 5; 

 ovary minute: fr. ovoid, berry-like. One species, Peru, 

 Bolivia, and Chile. U. tuberdsus, Caldas. ULLUCO or 

 OLLUCO. Description same as generic. B.M. 4617. 

 G.C. II. 23:216. H.F. 2:48. J.F. 3:221. The tubers, 



produced near the base of the plant underground, are 

 much eaten in S. Amer. Sometimes the pSnt is cult, 

 in northern countries, but only as a curiosity. It is 

 prop, by the tubers, as are potatoes. 



ULMARIA: Filipendula. 



ULMUS (ancient Latin name of the elm). Ulmacese. 

 ELM. Ornamental trees chiefly grown for their hand- 

 some foliage and often planted as shade and street 

 trees. 



Deciduous, rarely half -evergreen: winter buds con- 

 spicuous, with imbricate scales: Ivs. short-petioled, 

 usually unequal at the base, with caducous stipules: 

 fls. perfect or rarely polygamous, apetalous, in axillary 

 clusters or racemes; calyx campanulate, 4-9-lobed, with 

 an equal number of stamens; ovary superior, with a 

 2-lobed style, usually 1-loculed and with 1 ovule: fr. 

 a slightly compressed dry nutlet, with a broad rarely 

 narrow membranous wing all around (Fig. 3877). 

 About 18 species of Ulmus are known, distributed 

 through the colder and temperate regions of the north- 

 ern hemisphere, in N. Amer. south to S. Mex., but 

 none west of the Rocky Mts., and in Asia south to 

 the Himalayas. The wood is heavy, hard, and tough 

 and often difficult to split. It is especially useful in 

 the manufacture of wagon-wheels, agricultural imple- 

 ments, and for boat-building. The inner mucilaginous 

 bark of the branches of U. fulva is used medicinally 

 and that of some Chinese species is made into meal 

 and used for food. The tough inner bark of some spe- 

 cies furnishes a kind of bass which is sometimes woven 

 into a coarse cloth, especially that of U. japonica in 

 Japan. 



The elms are mostly tall trees, rarely shrubby, with 

 alternate usually 2-ranked, medium-sized or sometimes 

 rather small leaves and with inconspicuous generally 

 greenish brown flowers appearing mostly before the 

 leaves. Most of the cultivated species are hardy North, 

 but U. crassifolia and U. alata are tender; U. parvifolia 

 and U. serptina are of doubtful hardiness, although they 

 have persisted near Boston. The elms are mostly tall 

 and long-lived and are very valuable for park plant- 

 ing and for avenue trees, especially U. americana, which 

 is the favorite tree for street planting and as a shade 

 tree for dwelling houses in the northeastern states. It is 

 the most characteristic tree of this region and of char- 

 acteristic beauty. Its habit is at once majestic and 

 graceful, and the wide-spreading head, borne usually at 

 a considerable height on a straight and shapely trunk, 

 affords ample shade and shelter. Besides the American 

 elm several other species are used as avenue trees, as 

 Ulmus fulva, U. racemosa, and the European 

 U. campestris, U. hollandica, and U.foliacea. 

 Of U. hollandica, the vars. belgica, superba, 

 Klemmer are among the best for street plant- 

 ing; of U.foliacea, the vars. stricta, Wheatleyi, 

 and Dampieri. In the southern states U. 

 serotina, U. crassifolia, and U. alata are some- 

 times used as avenue trees. There are several 

 varieties of striking and peculiar habit, as U. 

 glabra var. fastigiata and U. foliacea var. 

 monumentalis, with narrow columnar head; 

 U. glabra var. pendula, with horizontal limbs 

 forming widespreading tiers; U. glabra var. 

 Camperdownii with long pendulous branches. 

 U. foliacea var. umbraculifera, with a dense, 

 globose and rather small head, may be used 

 as an avenue tree for formal gardens. Several species 

 and varieties are interesting in winter on account of 

 their branches being furnished with broad corky wings. 

 The foliage of most species turns pale yellow in fall, 

 but that of the European species remains green much 

 longer. 



Unfortunately many insects and fungi prey upon the 

 elm, especially on the American elm. One of the most 



5 



alata; 



