APRIL. 187 



OUR ORNAMENTAL TREES. 

 by the editor. 



3. The Nettle Tree. (Celtis occidentalis, L.) 



The Nettle tree, though a native of Massachusetts, and 

 found by Mr. Emerson in nearly every county in the State, 

 is yet one of the least known of our ornamental trees. An am- 

 ateur lover of trees, residing not many miles from Boston, 

 has a fine specimen growing in his grounds, but none of his 

 neighbors, even those familiar with trees, could give him its 

 name ! In Illinois, where it is more abundant, it was called 

 by the French Boisinconnemi, or unknown wood. Michaux, 

 who observed the Liquidamber as far north as Portsmouth, 

 N. H., did not notice the Celtis north of the Connecticut. 

 Mr. Emerson had it pointed out to him at Savin Hill by Dr. 

 Bigelow, and in Dorchester by the late Dr. Harris. We have 

 never ourselves seen a specimen, in our rambles through the 

 woods in part of Middlesex County, though no doubt it may 

 be found. In Bristol County it is most abundant. Michaux 

 remarks that it is scattered singly throughout the forests of 

 the county. Hence undoubtedly its rarity, for if found in 

 groups like oaks and maples, it could not fail to be familiar to 

 many individuals. • 



The Nettle tree (fig. 10) bears a strong resemblance to the 

 Elm, and has in consequence obtained the name of False 

 JSlm, from which circumstance it has probably been taken 

 for that tree when seen in the forests. It has something of 

 the same habit, or at least of many of the species of the 

 former, which vary exceedingly in growth. The Nettle tree 

 does not send up so tall a stem as the elm, but its branches 

 have something of its drooping character, though in a less 

 degree, inclining to spread horizontally. Its usual height, in 

 good soils and favorable situations, according to Michaux, is 

 sixty or seventy feet, and eighteen or twenty inches in diam- 

 eter ; but this was on the banks of the Savannah : in the 

 colder regions and poorer soils of New England, it does not 

 rise more than forty or fifty feet. It branches very low, and 



