THE ELM. 103 



elm does not all prove true to the tree from which it is 

 gathered, but is apt to produce varieties, differing, more 

 or less, from the parent plant ; the consequence, therefore, 

 of this propensity in the genus to vary in character and 

 appearance, when originating from seed, renders the discri- 

 mination of species from varieties a matter of great uncer- 

 tainty, and, except in cases where such varieties have been 

 raised from seed collected and sown by the cultivator, as 

 in the case of that known by the name of U. c. viminalis, 

 and in that of U. m. g. vegeta, even the species or kinds 

 from which varieties have proceeded must frequently be 

 matter of conjecture. 



Linnaeus, it appears, referred all the Elms to U. cam- 

 pestris ; but Sir. J. E. Smith enumerates five species of 

 British Elms, viz. U. campestris, U. suberosa, U. major, 

 U. montana, and U. glabra. Our own observations and 

 the information we have been able to collect, incline us 

 to adopt Mr. Loudon's opinion, and to consider the whole 

 of the British Elms as referable to two species or types, 

 of which the U. campestris is the one, and U. montana the 

 other. The varieties and sub-varieties of the first are 

 most of them distinguished by a smaller leaf, by their 

 aptitude to throw up suckers from the roots, a pro- 

 vision which compensates for the frequently imperfect 

 state of the seed they produce. The IT. montana and 

 its varieties, on the contrary, throw up no suckers, but 

 produce an abundance of perfect seed. As doubts, how- 

 ever, must still exist on this subject, and as the fact, as 

 to whether they are in reality species or varieties, is of 

 little consequence to the cultivator, we shall consider some 

 of the most distinct and marked of these Elms, and such 

 as have usually been looked upon as species, under separate 

 heads ; the first is the IT. campestris, Linn ; English, or 

 Small-leaved Elm. 



