SLIPPERY ELM 



Leaves. — Alternate, ovate-oblong, five to seven inches long, 

 rounded at the base on one side and oblique on the other, coarsely 

 and doubly serrate, acute or acuminate. Feather-veined, midrib 

 very prominent beneath. They come out of the bud conduplicate, 

 thin, light green ; when full grown they are thick, firm, dark green, 

 rough above, paler and somewhat rough beneath. In autumn they 

 turn to a dull yellow. Petioles short, hairy ; stipules caducous. 



Flowers. — March, April, before the leaves. Perfect, borne in 

 clusters on short pedicles produced from the axils of minute green 

 bracts. 



Calyx. — Campanulate, five to nine-lobed, green, hairy ; lobes 

 imbricate in bud. 



Corolla. — Wanting. 



Stamens. — Five to nine, exserted, light yellow ; filaments slender ; 

 anthers dark red, do not shed their pollen until the stigmas have 

 begun to wither, extrorse, two-celled ; cells opening longitudinally. 



Pistil. — Ovary superior, one-celled by abortion ; stigmas two, red- 

 dish purple ; ovules solitary. 



Fruit. — Samaras, winged all round, maturing when leaves are half 

 grown, semi-orbicular, one-half to three-fourths of an inch broad, 

 hairy on the faces but naked at the margins ; emarginate with re- 

 mains of both stigmas at the apex. Wing is broad and thin and 

 marked by the dark line of union of the two carpels. 



Although the White Elm and the Slippery Elm look very 

 much alike there are several points of difference which make it 

 fairly easy to distinguish them. The White Elm varies greatly 

 in the size of its leaves. There 

 may be individual White Elms 

 whose leaves are larger than in- 

 dividual Slippery Elms but upon 

 the whole, given the same con- 

 ditions, the foliage mass of a 

 Slippery Elm is made up of 

 larger leaves than that of the 

 White Elm. The leaves are 

 much rougher, they are rough 

 whichever way you rub them, 

 while the White Elm leaves are 

 smooth one way and rough the other. The buds are hairy, 

 those of the White Elm smooth. In the spring the leaves 

 of the Slippery Elm come out protected and adorned with 



241 



Slippery Elm, Uhnu^ pubcs-cois. 

 Samaras y^' to )4' 'o'lg- 



