4r)G KE"\V EXGL.A.XD TREES IX WINTER. 



SLIPPERY ELM 



Red Elm, Moose Elm. 



rimus fulva Michx. 

 U. puhcscens "Walt. 



HABIT — A small to medium -si zed tree, 4 0-t^O ft. in height -with a 



trunk diameter of I-212 ft.; forming a broad upeu rather flat-topped 

 head, resembling- the White Elm but with less drooping branches. 



BARK — Grayish-brown, more or less deeply furrowed, internally 

 reddish-brown without conspicuously whitish layers (see bark section 

 in plate) ; inner bark next the wood, whitish, strongly mucilaginous, 

 giving the name Slippery Elm. 



TAVIGS — Light, grayish, hairy, roughened by numerous raised 

 lenticels, stronglj' and characteristically mucilaginous if chewed. 



LEAF-SCARS — Alternate. 2-ranked, with generally 3 sunken bundle- 

 scars, resembling those of the White Elm. 



BTDS — Terminal bud absent; lateral buds about 6 mm. long, dark 

 bro'tt'n, covered especial b' at their tips with kmg rusty hairs ; flower 

 buds more or less spherical. BUD-SCALES — in 2 ranks of a nearly 

 uniform color. 



FRl'lT — A flat round entire-winged fruit without hairy fringe, ripen- 

 ing in spring. 



CO>riV\RISO\S — The Slippery Elm is easil>- distinguished from the 

 conimon ^^'hite l-^lni and t lie I'arer Cork Elm by its r(.)Ugh gray twigs, 

 its dark buds covered with long rusty hairs, and by the strongly 

 mucilaginous character rif the inner bark of the trunk and e\'en, though 

 to a somewhat less extent, of the twigs, and further from the W^hite 

 Elm by the absence of distinct white layers in the outer bark. 



DISTRIBUTION — Rich, low grounds; low, rocky woods and hillsides. 

 A'alley of the St. Lawrence, apparently not abundant; south to Florida; 

 west to North Dakota and Texas. 



IX NEW ENGLAND — Maine — District of Maine, rare; Waterborough, 

 (York county); New Hampshire — \'alley of the Connecticut, usually 

 disappearing within ten miles of the river; ranges as far north as the 

 mouth of the Passumpsic; A'ermont — frequent; Massachusetts — rare in 

 the eastern sections, frecjuent westward; Rhode Island — infrequent. 



IN CONNECTICUT— Rare to frequent. 



AVOOn — Heavy, hard, strong, very coarse-grained, durable, easy to 

 split, dark brown or red, with thin lighter colored sapwood; largely 

 used for fence iiopts, railroad ties, the sills of buildings, the hubs of 

 wheels and in agricultural implements. The thick fragrant mucil- 

 aginous inner bark is used in medicine as a demulcent and Is some- 

 what nutritious. 



