SCIENCE-G OSSIF. 



2<J3 



The internodes are always longer than in the 

 small-leaved elm, especially in the luxuriant shoots 

 of young trees ; in such they vary from five-eighths 

 of an inch to one and three-quarter inches, and 

 hence the secondary branches are always wider 

 apart ; when, however, the flowering habit has 

 set in, the distance between the secondary 



In the more slender-growing varieties, the lesser 

 branches become pendulous through the weight of 

 their own spray and foliage, and hang as rich 

 festoons. 



It is a characteristic of the wych elm that the 

 primary branches seem to have greater vigour and 

 force of development than the central stem from 



Wvch Elm. Winter State. 



branches thenceforward produced is greatly 

 increased as has already been pointed out. 



The thickness of the yearly shoot varies con- 

 siderably in different individuals, but one-eighth of 

 an inch is a very common diameter. 



With regard to the ultimate directions assumed by 

 the younger branches and sprays, the leading shoot 

 in the more robust forms seems to follow its own 

 chosen direction, the force of its individual growth 

 preventing its being either drawn upward by the 

 influence of light, or bent downward by gravitation. 



which they spring, thus taking the lead of it and 

 causing it, before it has reached any great height 

 from the ground, to become lost among them. 

 There is considerable variation in the branching 

 of different individuals when full-grown or aged ; 

 but this character of losing the central trunk 

 in large diverging limbs is always more or 

 less present to distinguish the wych elm from 

 the small-leafed elm, which is so much more 

 common than it in the southern counties of 

 England. In the wych elm the uppermost limbs 



