1870 The Trees of Great Britain and Ireland 



but are occasionally retained in the second year. Leaves (Plate 412, Fig. 18) obovate- 

 elliptic, 3^ to 5 in. long, i| to 2 in. wide, very oblique at the base, abruptly con- 

 tracted at the apex into a long serrated point ; upper surface slightly scabrous, 

 with a minute scattered pubescence ; lower surface densely covered with a soft 

 pubescence, conspicuous on the midrib, and with white axil-tufts ; lateral nerves 

 fourteen to eighteen pairs, often forked ; margin coarsely biserrate ; petiole ^ to ^ in. 

 long, densely pubescent. 



Samara; differing little from those of U. montana, except in their smaller size, 

 about I in. long and f in. wide, obovate, rounded and slightly emarginate at the apex, 

 below which is a minute aperture formed by the incurved stigmas. Seed in the 

 centre of the samara, at the base of which the persistent calyx is five-lobed, with 

 remains of five stamens. 



This elm is readily distinguishable from U. montana by the glabrescent and more 

 slender twigs, and by the narrower leaf, which is usually prolonged at the apex into 

 a long serrated point. The appearance of the stem in mature trees is very character- 

 istic, as it is remarkably cylindrical, being rarely swollen or buttressed at the base, 

 and tapers less than other elms. The tree produces suckers, but not very freely. 

 These have pubescent branchlets, and scabrous leaves, similar in shape to those of 

 the parent tree. 



This tree is said by Huberty, 1 who quotes Poederle's Manuel de rArboriste, ii. 

 117 (1792), to have been cultivated in the eighteenth century in the nurseries of the 

 Abbey of Dunes, which was first established at Furnes and later was transferred to 

 Bruges. It was then known by the Flemish name of Hollander's olm or elm of 

 Holland, but is now more commonly called orme gras? It is undoubtedly a hybrid, 

 as Mr. Springer, 8 who sowed its seed, obtained mixed seedlings, of which I have 

 received specimens. One of these is three weeks later in losing its leaves than the 

 parent. Samarae which he sent me in 191 1 were very variable in size, but uniform as 

 regards the position of the seed in the centre. Those which I sowed failed to 

 germinate. This elm is always propagated in nurseries 4 by layering ; and is most 

 extensively cultivated in Belgium and Holland, where it is the principal tree 5 planted 

 along the roads, as well as in parks and avenues. It grows with astonishing vigour, 

 much faster than other elms, according to Mr. Huberty, who states that it yields a 

 soft wood, little used by carriage builders, but valuable for making furniture. 



1 Bull. Soc. Cent. Forest. Belg. xi. 564 (1904). This elm is probably referred to in the Dictionary of the French 

 Academy, published in 1694 : " Ypreau, espece d'orme a larges feuilles qui est venu premierement des environs de la ville 

 d'Ypres." Ypres is not far distant from Furnes and Bruges; and it is in this district that the other peculiar elms of Belgium, 

 the Klemmer and Dumont varieties, have originated. Plukenet's Ulmus hollandica was possibly the ypreau. The word 

 ypreau, which is also written ypereau and ipreau, meaning elm, was first used in 1432, according to Godefroy, Diet. Anc. 

 I-ang. Franc, x. 873 (1902); and only in the nineteenth century came to mean the grey poplar in the north of France; 

 but it is still used in Flanders for the hybrid elm. Cf. Bull. Soc. Cent. Forest. Belg. ii. 817 (1895), and xi. 572 (1906). Gleditsch, 

 Forstwissenschaft, i. 285 (1775), thought that the Holland " Yper" originated from the wild elm of North America, but there 

 is no evidence of hybridisation with either U. americana or U. pedunculata. 



* It is often called orme gras de Malines, because it has been long propagated by the nurserymen of this city ; but there 

 are no grounds for believing with Gillekens, Arboric. Forest. 39 (1891), that it originated at Malines. 



3 Mitt. Deut. Dend. Ges. 1910, p. 272. 



4 Attempts have been made to divide the Belgian elm into numerous varieties ; but only two kinds are ordinarily 

 propagated in Belgian and Dutch nurseries, viz., orme gras and orme Dumont. 



6 Aigret, in Ann. Trav. Publ. Belg. x. 477 (1905), gives a table of the numbers of the various species of trees planted 

 along the main roads in Belgium. The elm is the most numerous, 294,725 out of a total of 806,985 trees. 



