ELM FAMILY 



come out of the bud conduplicate with slightly involute margins, 

 pale yellow green, downy ; when full grown are thin, bright green, 

 rough above, paler green beneath. In autumn they turn to a light 

 yellow. Petioles slender, slightly grooved, hairy. Stipules varying 

 in form, caducous. 



Flowers. May, soon after the leaves. Polygamo-moncecious, 

 greenish. Of three kinds staminate, pistillate, perfect ; borne on 

 slender drooping pedicels. 



Calyx. Light yellow green, five-lobed, divided nearly to the base ; 

 lobes linear, acute, more or less cut at the apex, often tipped with 

 hairs, imbricate in bud. 



Corolla. Wanting. 



Stamens. Five, hypogynous ; filaments white, smooth, slightly 

 flattened and gradually narrowed from base to apex ; in the bud 

 incurved, bringing the anthers face to face, as flower opens they 

 abruptly straighten ; anthers extrorse, oblong, two-celled ; cells 

 opening longitudinally. 



Pistil. Ovary superior, one-celled ; style two-lobed ; ovules sol- 

 itary. 



Fruit. Fleshy drupe, oblong, one-half to three-fourths of an inch 

 long, tipped with remnants of style, dark purple. Borne on a slen- 

 der stem ; ripens in September and October. Remains on branches 

 during winter. 



When one for the first time sees an elm tree bearing ber- 

 ries, it gives a shock to all his former ideas. To come upon 

 the Hackberry, " tall and stately by the river," showing its 

 elm relationship in the poise of its trunk, in the sweep and 

 fall of its branches, in the effect of its foliage mass ; showing 

 this so plainly that a novice says, " of course it is an elm," 

 and then to find that elm bearing dark purple berries is in- 

 deed a surprise. Certainly the Hackberry is not an elm, and 

 its stunted growth in the eastern states would never permit 

 it to be mistaken for one, but where it attains its fullest de- 

 velopment it shows unmistakably its family relationship. 



Native to the Mississippi valley, it is rare east of the Alle- 

 ghanies and west of the Rockies. The wood is not very val- 

 uable, but as an ornamental tree it has much to recommend 

 it. It is tolerant of many conditions of soil and climate, likes 

 water but can live in dry situations. Insects rarely attack 

 its leaves, and it is comparatively free from serious diseases. 

 It is now extensively planted as a shade tree in the western 



.250 



