120 



TREES GROWING IN MOIST SOIL. 



Beadle and a well dried specimen that the accompanying 

 description was written. 



AMERICAN ELM. WHITE ELM. (Plate L VI.) 



Ulmus Americana. 



Bark: ashy grey ; flaky. Branches: light green when young and without corky 

 ridges. Buds : flattened ; smooth, or slightly pubescent. Stipules : linear to 

 lanceolate. Leaves : simple ; alternate ; with smooth petioles ; oval, or obovate, 

 with taper-pointed apex and rounded or slightly pointed base ; unequal sided ; 

 coarsely or doubly serrate. Ribs : straight ; conspicuous ; veins and veinlets 

 numerous ; glabrous, or slightly rough above, pubescent underneath and be- 

 coming smooth at maturity. Flowers ; dioecious ; minute ; growing in close, 

 drooping clusters on jointed stalks from lateral buds and appearing before the 

 leaves. Samaras : oval or ovate ; glabrous, with thickly fringed margins. 



The American elm is very grace- 

 ful and stately. Its great arching 

 limbs uphold a spray of dark and 

 beautiful foliage which appears on 

 the landscape like a suddenly ar- 

 rested fountain. It is not strange 

 that so much sentiment clings about 

 these trees ; for at times they have 

 been associated with thrilling events 

 in their country's history. It was 

 under the shade of a great elm at 

 Cambridge, Mass., that Washington 

 stepped forward, drew his sword, 

 and in a few words assumed com- 

 mand of the American army. The 

 tree, after that eventful morning, 

 was known as the "Washington 

 Elm " ; and longer than any other 

 being it remained to testify to the younger generations that 

 it had been a witness of the scene. Although not at all 

 a phenomenal tree in size, the estimate was at the time made 



ulmus A tnericana. 



