TREES WITH HIGHLY-DEVELOPED FLOWERS 295 



CHAPTER XXIV 



TREES WITH MORE HIGHLY DEVELOPED 



FLOWERS 



The flowers of some of our forest trees and shrubs are 

 so conspicuous, that they have earned the popular name 

 of ' flowering trees ' and ' flowering shrubs '. They differ 

 from the previous types in usually having both stamens 

 and pistils in the same flower (i.e. they are hermaphrodite), 

 and often have a well-developed perianth. The less con- 

 spicuous of these are the Elm, Sycamore, and Common 

 Ash ; on the other hand, the Rowan, Laburnum, Horse- 

 Chestnut, and Lilac, have very showy flowers, attractive to 

 insects, which pollinate them. 



Elm 



The Wych Elm (Ulmus montana), also known as the 

 Scots or Mountain Elm, is a native of Britain and is northern 

 and upland in its distribution, in which districts it com- 

 monly occurs in the damp woods and hedgerows. Another 

 species, the English Elm {Ulmus campestris), is not native, 

 and occurs most commonly in the lowlands and southern 

 half of England (Fig. 195, 1 and 2). There are also many 

 varieties. 



The Elms are tall trees, eighty to one hundred and twenty 

 feet high, with a deep and coarsely-fissured bark (Fig. 195, 1), 

 resembling that of the Oak. The crown is large and spread- 

 ing, and the lower part of the trunk is often thickly clothed 

 with stool-shoots. 



The buds and twigs are more hairy, and the latter thicker, 

 in the Wych Elm than in the English Elm. The terminal 



