Ulmus 1863 



Pharmacopoeia. It is frequently chewed by children, and when macerated in water 

 yields a thick and abundant mucilage, which was formerly used as a refreshing drink 

 for colds. The powdered inner bark is used for poultices, and is said to preserve 

 butter and lard from rancidity if the latter are melted with it.^ 



The date of introduction of U.fulva into England was unknown to Loudon, 

 who mentions no large trees. It is probably short-lived in our climate, as we have 

 seen no specimens except young trees, of which there are good examples, 15 to 

 20 ft. high, at Kew. It is rare except in botanic gardens ; but there is a tree at 

 Hildenley of no great size, and another at Colesborne, procured from Simon-Louis, 

 which seems healthy at present. 



The timber is not of much importance commercially, and is not found anywhere 

 in great quantity. Macoun ^ says that it is more durable than that of the other elms, 

 and is better suited for railway ties, fence-posts, and rails. Pinchot ^ recommends the 

 planting of the slippery elm in the Mississippi valley, as it grows fast in youth, and 

 can be utilised for fence-posts when quite young, since the sapwood, if thoroughly 

 dried, is quite as durable as the heartwood. 



U. fulva has been much confused with the following species : — 



Ulmus elliptica, Koch, in Linncea, xxii. 599 (1849), and Dendrologie, ii. pt. i. 

 420 (1872) (not* Koehne, Schneider, or Ascherson and Graebner). 



A tree,^ similar in size and habit to U. montana. Young branchlets pubescent, 

 smooth and not tuberculate as in U.fulva. Leaves similar to those of U. montana, 

 in being nearly sessile, with the inner side of the base overlapping the branchlet ; 

 elliptic, 2)h. *° ^ ^"- ^^^%' ^1 to 2\ in. wide, scarcely scabrous above, sparingly 

 pubescent and with inconspicuous axil-tufts beneath; lateral nerves 18 to 20 pairs, 

 often forked ; biserrate in margin. Samarse, obovate or oval, f in. long, f in. wide, 

 emarginate at the apex, with a minute aperture formed by the incurved stigmas ; 

 seed-cavity in the centre, and pubescent on both surfaces, the rest of the samara 

 being glabrous and non-ciliate. 



This species is closely allied to U. montana, differing mainly in the pubescence 

 on the centre of the samara, in which respect it resembles U. fulva ; but the samara 

 in the latter species is much smaller. U. elliptica is imperfectly known,® but is said 

 by Koch to form extensive woods in the Caucasus, which are either pure or mixed 

 with other broad-leaved trees. It is not in cultivation, so far as I know. 



The trees cultivated by Spath, under the names U. elliptica or U. Heyderi^ are 



> riuckiger and Hanbury, Pharmacographia, 557 (1879). Cf. also Loudon, Card. Mag. xv. 574 (1839), and xvi. 

 231 (1840). 



' Forest Wealth of Canada, 24 {1900). ' U.S. Forest Circular, No. 85 (1907). 



* U. elliptica, Koehne, Dendrologie, 136 (1893), Schneider, Laubhohkunde, i. 216, fig. 136 (1904). and Ascherson 

 and Graebner, Syn. Mitteleurop. Flora, 550 (1911), is U.fulva. 



6 This description is drawn up from a specimen in the Kew Herbarium, collected by Markowicz in the Caucasus, which 

 agrees with Koch's description. Markowicz wrote a pamphlet on this elm, which was published at Moscow in 1900. Elwes 

 saw specimens in the St. Petersburg Herbarium which were collected in Abchasia and near Alagir in Ossetia. 



8 Koppen, Hohgewdchse Europ. Russlands und Kaukasus, ii. 41 (1889), and other Russian botanists regard U. elliptica 

 as a dubious species. 



' Spath, Catal. No. S7, P- 4 (1883). Koehne's description of U. elliptica was apparently taken from one of these trees, 

 which produced flowers and fhjit in Spath's nursery^ and not from the typical tree in the Caucasus. 



