Ulmus r 9 2 5 



It is said by Loudon to have been introduced into England in 1820 ; but it has 

 apparently not thriven in our climate, as we have never found any old trees. It 

 appears to be very rare, if it exists at all, in collections on the Continent. It has 

 lately been reintroduced by Spath of Berlin ; and young trees which were obtained 

 from him in 1909, are now to be seen at Kew, where they are already beginning to 

 show the corky branchlets that are characteristic of the species. (A. H.) 



ULMUS CRASSIFOLIA 



Ulmus crassifolia, Nuttall , in Trans. Amer. Phil. Soc. v. 169 (1837) ; Sargent, Silva N. Amer. vii. 



57> * 3 I 5 ( I 895), and Trees N. Amer. 294 (1905). 

 Ulmus opaca, Nuttall, Sylva, i. 35, t. 11 (1842). 



A tree, attaining in America 80 ft. in height and 9 ft. in girth. Bark deeply 

 divided by interrupted fissures into broad flat scaly ridges. Buds ovpid, acute, ^ in. 

 long, with minutely pubescent scales. Young branchlets slender, covered with a 

 short erect pubescence ; glabrous and striated in the second year, when they often 

 begin to develop two shining brown corky wings. Leaves (Plate 411, Fig. 2) oval, 

 about 1 to 2 in. long, and J to 1 in. broad ; acute or rounded and never acuminate 

 at the apex ; slightly oblique with both sides rounded and usually subcordate at 

 the base ; upper surface light green, scabrous, with scattered minute hairs ; lower 

 surface paler green, with a scattered minute pubescence, conspicuous on the mid- 

 rib, and not forming axil-tufts ; margin serrate or occasionally biserrate, with 

 triangular spreading and not incurved teeth, minutely ciliate ; lateral nerves, eight 

 to eleven pairs, usually forked, not regularly parallel ; petiole ^ in. long, covered with 

 a minute pubescence. Stipules triangular-lanceolate, \ in. long, pubescent, clasping 

 the stem by their broad bases, persistent till the leaves are fully developed in May. 



Flowers opening in autumn, on slender pedicels (^ to \ in. long), three to 

 five in a fascicle ; calyx deeply divided below the middle into five to eight narrow 

 pointed lobes ; ovary pubescent. Samara, ^ in. long, ovate, deeply notched at the 

 pointed apex, with the stigmas incurved and nearly touching at their tips, pubescent 

 on both surfaces, densely ciliate in margin ; seed occupying more than two-thirds of 

 the samara. 



U. crassifolia, which is known in North America as the cedar elm, is distri- 

 buted from the valley of the Sunflower river, Mississippi, through southern 

 Arkansas and Texas to Nuevo Leon in Mexico. In Arkansas, it grows usually 

 on river cliffs and low hill-sides ; but is most common in Texas, where it ranges 

 in the west from the valley of the Pecos river to the coast, growing both in deep 

 alluvial soil and on dry limestone hills, and attaining its largest size in the alluvial 

 flats of the Guadalupe and Trinity rivers. 



This species is very rare in Europe, the only specimen which I have seen 

 being a tree at Kew, about 15 ft. high, which was obtained from Sargent in 1870. 

 The twigs die off annually ; and evidently this species is unsuitable to our climate, 

 and can only be grown as a botanical curiosity in favoured districts in the south of 

 England. (A. H.) 



vii 2 N 



