358 BRITISH FLOWERING PLANTS chap. 



8 minutes.-' The surface is covered with hairs, shaped 

 like an anvil with a broad top. These climbing hooks 

 help to attach it to its support. The persistent bracts 

 serve as parachutes to disperse the seeds. 



ULMACE^ 



Ulmus (Elm) 



Flowers generally complete, protogynous, with long- 

 lived stigmas. Pollen carried by the wind. Perianth 

 of 4-6 lobes and as many stamens (Pig. 

 234). According to Kerner the filaments 

 double their length very shortly before the 

 opening of the anthers. These close in 

 wet weather. The fruit, as in the case of 

 that of so many other trees, is thin, flat, 

 and easily carried by wind. We have 

 two species. The Wych Elm (U. mon- 

 tana) has the fruit slightly, the other. 

 Fig. 234.— Flower the Commou Elm [U. campestris), deeply 

 of the Elm. En- j^otchcd. There are, however, consider- 

 able diff'erences of opinion as to the 

 number of species, and U. campestris may perhaps 

 represent a group of allied forms rather than a single 

 species. The hairs are sometimes poisonous. 



The buds of the Common Elm ( U. campestris) are 

 covered and protected by scales, each of which repre- 

 sents a pair of stipules.^ This is shown by the position 

 and arrangement of the scales. The leaves are in two 

 ranks, as in the Beech. Hence, as there are two stipules 

 to each leaf, it follows that if each scale corresponded 

 to a stipule they must be in four ranks, as, in fact, 

 they are in the Beech (Fig. 253). Those of the Elm, 

 however (Fig. 235), are in two rows, showing that 



^ Darwin, Climbing Plants. 

 ^ Avebury (Lubbock), £uds and Stipides, p. 144. 



