Ulmus 1897 



In Germany the northern limit of this species is not accurately known ; but 

 it is a rare tree in the north, except in the river valleys/ It is widely spread 

 through Austria- Hungary, the Balkan States, Greece, Italy, Spain, and Portugal. 



U. nitens is rare, either wild or cultivated, in Belgium and Holland; but it grows 

 on the dunes near Haarlem, I saw no trees of it in the Ardennes,^ where the wild 

 elms are U. pedunculata and U. montana? I found it in a nursery at Malines, where 

 it was called orme maigre. 



In France it is widely distributed, except in Provence, where it is replaced by 

 the southern variety of U. campestris. It is common, however, only in some parts, 

 and rarely if ever forms a prominent feature in the landscape, such as it does in 

 East Anglia. It is apparently wild in Normandy, where it grows often in hedges as 

 a small tree with corky branches and numerous suckers. It is indigenous in certain 

 forests, mixed with oak, notably in the Bois de Vincennes near Paris, where it is 

 associated with Quercus lanuginosa. I noticed a few trees growing in the forest of 

 Marly. It constitutes a small percentage of the forest of Th6tieu, through which 

 the Adour flows near Dax. The soil here is liable to inundation once or twice 

 a year, and the main species is the pedunculate oak. I estimated many elms in 

 this remarkable forest to be about 70 ft, in height and 5 to 6 ft. in girth. Near 

 Angoul^me I noticed this elm in hedges on the road to the forest of La Braconne, 

 one fine tree being 90 ft. in height and 7 ft. in girth. It is also common on the 

 outskirts of the forest of Orleans, where it grows in hedgerows around cultivated 

 fields in better soil than that of the interior of the existing woodland. M. Mathey 

 gives an interesting account* of the remarkable woods, known as vaivres, which 

 occur on the banks of the Sa6ne from Port-sur-Sa6ne near Vesoul to twenty-eight 

 kilometres north of Macon, These moist woods, with an alluvial soil which is 

 frequently flooded, are mainly composed of oak, ash, and glabrous elm, with a 

 sprinkling of aspen, alder, hornbeam, maple, and blackthorn. The herbaceous 

 vegetation is characterised by moisture-loving plants like Carex brizoides, Panicum 

 Crus-Galli, and Iris Pseudacorus. Most of these woods are treated as coppice with 

 standards, the number of the latter that are reserved being often in the proportion of 

 15 oaks, 2 ashes, and i elm ; but as the elm is the least valuable, it is not maintained 

 in the overwood, although it increases by suckering in the underwood. The late M. 

 Broilliard stated ' that the woods richest in elms are near Gray (Haute Sa6ne), Pon- 

 tailler, Heuilley (C6te d'Or), Ecuelles, Boyer (Sa6ne-et-Loire), and Truchere (Ain). 



The seedling elms ^ that are imported into England, under the name 



1 Willkomm, Forst. Flora, 554 (1887), states that, on the alluvial land along the Elbe in north Germany, small pure 

 woods of this species are not uncommon. 



2 Reputed wild trees of small size on the side of the river near Rochefort were, I found on enquiry in 1912, elms that 

 had been imported as seedlings twenty-five years previously from a French nursery in Calvados. 



3 Specimens of wild elm in the Bois de Colfontaine near Mons, sent me as " U. campestris " by M. Quievy, are also 

 U. montana. 



4 Bull. Soc. Forest. Franche-Comti, iv. 494 (1898), and Bull. Soc. Cent. Forest. Belg. vi. 87 (1899). I am indebted for 

 specimens of this elm to M. Mourlot, Inspector of Forests at Gray, and to Mdme. Broilliard. 



6 Bull. Soc. Cent. Forest. Belg. xii. 53 (1905). 



* On account of their rough pubescent leaves and branchlets, these seedlings have been much confused with U. campestris, 

 the true English elm ; but they are undoubtedly U. nitens, and agree perfectly with seedlings that I have raised from seed of 

 the latter species gathered in England. Sargent sent me in 191 1 seedlings of his " U. foliacea," raised from seed gathered in 

 Hungary in 1905 ; these have corky pubescent twigs and rough hairy leaves and are also U. nitens. 



