102 ULMACE.E. 



Ulmacea. 



Genus Ulmus, Linn. Linn. Syst. Pentandria 



Digynia. 



THE ELM. 



The Elms are mostly trees of the first rank, attaining, 

 in favourable situations, dimensions scarcely, if at all, infe- 

 rior to the oak, the chesnut, the beech, or the ash ; they 

 live to a great age, and produce a hard and valuable tim- 

 ber ; they grow with strong upright trunks, but these differ 

 in their character, according to the habit of the species or 

 variety to which they belong. In some the branches and 

 head are generally subordinate to an elongated, conspicuous 

 central trunk, as is seen in the usual growth and appear- 

 ance of Ulmus campestris, and most of its varieties. In the 

 U. suberosa and U. montana, on the contrary, the cen- 

 tral column becomes lost or divided at a greater or less 

 height, in the great diverging boughs or arms which form 

 the head of the tree. The leaves, in all the species, are 

 alternate, stalked, and unequal at the base, serrated, and 

 generally rough or harsh to the touch ; the axils of the 

 primary nerves beneath are tufted with fine hairy filaments. 

 The flowers expand earlier than the leaves, and are pro- 

 duced in copious tufts from the buds of the shoots of the 

 previous year ; their usual colour is a purplish red. The cap- 

 sules or sameras are round or oval, more or less cloven on one 

 side, very light and chaffy, and serve as wings to the central 

 seed, which is often imperfect. 



To the botanist and dendrologist the Elms have long- 

 proved a puzzling genus, and great doubt and uncertainty 

 have always existed, as to what should be considered species, 

 and what varieties. This difficulty we may trace to the 

 fact, now well-known to cultivators, that the seed of the 



