38 HOUGH'S AMERICAN WOODS. 



289. ULMUS ALATA, MICHX. 



WINGED ELM. 

 Ger., Beflugelte Ulme; Fr., Orme aile; Sp., Olmo alado. 



SPECIFIC CHARACTERS: Leaves ovate-oblong, from abruptly wedge-shaped to 

 subcordate at base and somewhat inequilateral, acute or acuminate, doubly serrate, 

 at maturity firm, smooth, dark green above, pale pubescent beneath. Flowers 

 appearing in early spring before the leaves, in short few-flowered fascicles; calyx 

 glabrous with 5 obovate lobes. Fruit ripening usually before the unfolding of the 

 leaves, samara from y-% in. in length, long-stipitate, white-hairy especially on 

 the thickened margin; wings narrow and with protruded points incurved at apex. 



The Winged Elm is very different in stature from the favorite 

 majestic elms of the northern states, as its extreme height is in the 

 vicinity of only 60 ft. (18m.) and the thickness of trunk is rarely 

 greater than 2 ft. (0.60 m.). It forms a rather narrow oblong top of 

 shorter and less spreading branches than those of the White Elm, 

 and the bark of trunk is rather thin and fissured into narrow firm 

 scaly ridges. A striking feature of the tree is its widely winged 

 branchlets. The " wings " consist of excessive growths of the corky 

 layer of the bark appearing on opposite sides of the branchlets dur- 

 ing the first or second year of its growth, and becoming most pro- 

 nounced in from four to six years, when each wing may be a half- 

 inch or so in width. This peculiar growth is not common to all of 

 the branchlets, but to a large portion of them, especially of the lower 

 branches. 



HABITAT. Southern Virginia and westward, throughout Indiana 

 and Illinois to Kansas, and southward to northern Florida and the 

 Gulf Coast region to eastern Texas, seeming to prefer the rather dry 

 gravelly uplands and slopes, though not uncommon in well-drained 

 alluvial bottom-lands. 



PHYSICAL PKOPEETIES. The wood is heavy, hard, moderately 

 strong, close-grained, compact, and difficult to split. It is of a 

 purplish brown color with abundant buff-white sap-wood. Specific 

 Gravity, 0.7491 ; Percentage of Ash, 0.99 ; Relative Approximate 

 Fuel Value, 0.7417; Coefficient of Elasticity, 52323; Modulus of 

 Rupture, 724 ; Resistance to Longitudinal Pressure, 449 ; Resistance 

 to Indentation, 255 ; Weight of a Cubic Foot in Pounds, 46.68. 



USES. Like the wood of the White Elm, this is used in the manu- 

 facture of agricultural implements, wheel-hubs, tool-handles, etc. 



