126 TREES GROWING IN MOIST SOIL. 



ferent from the graceful, languorous droop of the American elm. 

 The leaves are smaller and grow densely on the wingless 

 branches. Their upper surfaces, also, are less rough. Some- 

 times for weeks after those of the native tree have fallen they 

 remain fresh on the branches. The samaras of the English elm 

 are smooth and without fringed margins, and its bark is very 

 dark and much broken. It is not frequent that the tree es- 

 capes from cultivation. 



U. subcrbsa, is a variety of the preceding species and has an 

 immense amount of corky stuff on the branches. 



HACKBERRY. SUGAR-BERRY. FALSE ELM. 



NETTLE-TREE. {Plate LIX.) 



Cdtis occidentalis. 



FAMILY SHAPE HEIGHT RANGE TIME OF BLOOM 



Elm. Round-topped; 15-50-140 feet. Quebec southward and April, May. 



branches, spreading, westward. Fruit: Sept. 

 or pendulous. 



Bark: silver-grey or brown ; crumpled; rough. Stipules: linear; whitish, 

 with a soft down. Leaves: simple; alternate; with slender, grooved petioles; 

 ovate, with taper-pointed apex and one-sided, pointed, rounded or cordate 

 base; serrate, becoming entire at the base. Very variable. Bright green; 

 glabrous and lustrous above, paler underneath and sometimes pubescent along 

 the ribs. Flowers: greenish; axillary; the staminate ones clustered; the 

 pistillate ones solitary and drooping on a peduncle. Calyx: five and six 

 parted. Stamens: long. Fruit: a small, globular drupe; purplish red, be- 

 coming nearly black when ripe, with a thin pulp; edible; sweet. 



It is a very unusual sight to see this tree or, sometimes, shrub 

 growing over fifty feet high, although at times it stretches it- 

 self upward until it reaches one hundred and forty feet. Not 

 long ago one was reported to measure one hundred and twenty 

 feet high, and five feet in diameter at a distance of four feet 

 from the ground. Its appearance was strongly suggestive of a 

 very old elm. The tree is admirable for the purpose of trans- 

 planting and when well developed is very effective. It grows 

 rapidly and displays great endurance against dry weather or a 

 long drought. The leaves in the autumn turn a light yellow. 

 From its wood which is coarsely grained and rather soft a 



