1904 The Trees of Great Britain and Ireland 



with a dense soft pubescence and numerous minute glands ; lateral nerves ten to 

 twelve pairs, often forked ; petiole in. long, densely pubescent. 



Flowers, about twenty in a cluster, on very short pedicels, irregular in the 

 number of stamens and sepals ; calyx funnel-shaped, with four or five or six red 

 sepals ; stamens three, four, or five, with red filaments and red anthers ; stigmas 

 white. Samarae on very short pedicels, nearly orbicular, ^ in. in diameter, glabrous, 

 non-ciliate, emarginate at the apex, with a short notch closed by the incurved 

 stigmas ; seed in the upper part of the samara, with its apex touching the base of 

 the notch. 



The English elm occasionally, but rarely, produces epicormic branches with 

 corky wings ; but, as a rule, the branches of all parts of the tree, as well as the 

 suckers, are not suberose. The suckers are produced very freely, with leaves and 

 twigs more pubescent than those of adult trees. It rarely bears 1 good seed in 

 England; but in 1909, out of about twenty lots of seed gathered in different places 

 in the south of England, I raised one seedling from a tree at Cambridge, two seed- 

 lings from a tree at Bayfordbury, and one seedling from a tree in the Isle of Wight. 2 



Varieties 



1. Var. australis, Henry. 



A tree, often pyramidal in habit, with short branches. Branchlets similar in 

 pubescence to the type. Leaves (Plate 412, Fig. 17) thick and firm in texture, 

 oval, 2 to 3 in. long, 1^ to if in. broad, with a longer and more cuspidate acuminate 

 apex than in the type ; scabrous and pubescent above ; lower surface densely 

 pubescent, the pubescence conspicuous on the midrib and nerves, with axil-tufts 

 not so well developed as in the typical form of the species ; lateral nerves about 

 twelve pairs, very prominent beneath ; coarsely biserrate in margin ; petiole up 

 to in- long, pubescent. Flowers similar to those of the English elm, but with pale 

 pink sepals, anthers, filaments, and stigmas. Samarae more obovate than orbicular, 

 but rounded at the base and otherwise similar to the typical form. 



This elm differs mainly from the English elm in the thicker texture of the 

 leaves, which have more prominent nerves beneath. It appears to be distributed 

 in the wild state in south-eastern France, Switzerland, and the Riviera. The small 

 elms along the stream on the golf course at Cannes, some on the hills above 

 La Mortola, and others of which I gathered specimens at Pertuis, in Provence, 

 more closely resemble the English elm than any others which I have seen, in 

 branchlets, leaves, and samarae, but still are not identical. I have also received 

 from Lord Walsingham specimens of this variety from trees growing at Venice ; 



1 The English elm has long been known to produce unfertile seed. W. Watkins, Forest Trees, 24 (1753), says 

 " I could never find any seed worth gathering on the English elm " ; and proceeds to give directions for layering, which he 

 preferred to propagation by root-suckers. 



8 Loudon, Arb. et Frut. Brit. iii. 1384 (1838), states that Masters raised in 1817, from the seed of a common 

 English elm at Lea Park, near Canterbury, a considerable number of seedlings, which comprised about twenty distinct 

 varieties. In all probability this tiee was a hybrid. All the elms, however, now standing in Lea Park, judging from copious 

 specimens which I received in 1910, appear to be English elms. 



