SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



321 



Unlike the wych elm, the small-leaved elm in- 

 creases greatly by suckers from the root, and, like 

 many plants which exhibit such a tendency, it 

 rarely ripens its seed, at least in England. On 

 the Continent it is said to do so not unfrequently. 



The characteristic features of the small-leaved 

 elm, as contrasted with the wych elm, may be said 

 to be its taller growth, with straight main trunk 

 giving off large limbs but maintaining its own 

 distinctness and not losing itself in them at a 

 comparatively small distance from the ground. 

 The shorter internodes, and consequently more 

 crowded leaves and branchlets, are also a feature. 

 So, too, are the slenderness of these last and their 

 strong tendency to turn upward and form rounded 

 masses of spray and foliage. Also the smaller 

 angle formed by the branches with the stem, i.e. 

 their more upright direction, in consequence of 



" The elm is one of the first trees to show the 

 influence of spring, and is among the last to shed its 

 leaves in winter. Early in March and often in 

 February, whilst other trees are still in the depth of 

 their winter's sleep, the elm gladdens the eye with 

 the reddish purple tint from the numerous little tufts 

 of blossom-buds that adorn every spray. In April 

 and May the leaves begin to appear, and their 

 light and cheerful green colour soon makes an 

 agreeable contrast with the olive tint of the oak 

 foliage. As the summer advances the leaves 

 gradually deepen in colour until they become of 

 a dark and glossy green, harmonising well with 

 the sombre hue of the Scotch fir, or even the yew- 

 tree, which are often planted near it, and in the 

 autumn they fade away to a fine clear yellow in 

 successive patches, often making the individual 

 trees very beautiful objects in the oblique light of 



=§^ 



Sprays of Small-leaved Elm. 

 1, Spring state (from Herefordshire). 2, Winter state (from near Bristol) ; a, Leaf Bud ; b b, Flower Buds. 



which they are more exposed to view from below, 

 instead of being so much hidden by pendulous 

 wreaths of foliage as in the wych elm. I think, 

 also, that the small-leaved elm does not exhibit in 

 old trees the tendency to clothe the larger limbs 

 with adventitious branchlets and spray which we 

 not unfrequently observe in its relative. 



Gilpin, in his "Forest Scenery" (sect, iv), 

 happily remarks on the small-leaved elm : " No 

 tree is better adapted to receive grand masses of 

 light. In this respect it is superior not only to the 

 oak and the ash, but, perhaps, to every other tree." 

 Selby, with equal justice, says (" Forest Trees," 

 page 109): "The foliage of the elm, though 

 massive and thick, and affording an almost im- 

 penetrable shade, never appears heavy to the eye. 

 . . . . This is owing to the lightness of the 

 spray, the comparative smallness of the leaves, and 

 the loose, free manner in which they hang." 



a sun low in the horizon, and always mixing 

 kindly with the orange and red of the beech- 

 tree, the duller yellow of the oak, and the many 

 other hues of the fading woods." — Dr. H. G. 

 Bull, in " Transactions of the Woolhope Club for 

 1868." 



I do not attempt to say anything of the cork- 

 barked elm, Ulmus suberosa, Sm., and of the 

 numerous other forms which have received names 

 and which figure as species or varieties in botanical 

 works and in nurserymen's catalogues. I have had 

 no sufficient opportunities of studying them, and I 

 think there is little doubt that these names have 

 as" yet very little certainty or constancy of applica- 

 tion. I believe that Loudon, in his "Arboretum 

 Britannicum," enumerated no less than eleven 

 species and sixty-eight varieties of elms, and this he 

 did not consider to have been an exhaustive list. 

 (To be continued.) 



