746 



Handbook of Nature-Study 



has a peculiar habit of growing its short branches all the way down its 

 trunk, making it look as if it were entwined with a vine. The elm leaf, 

 although its ribs are straight and simple, shows a little quirk of its own in 

 the uneven sides of its base where it joins the petiole! it is dark green 

 and rough above, light green and somewhat rough below; but this leaf is 

 rough only when stroked in certain directions, while the leaf of the slippery 

 elm is rough whichever way it may be stroked. The leaf has the edges saw- 

 toothed, which are in turn toothed; the petiole is short. The leaf comes 

 out of the bud in the spring folded like a little fan ; but before the fans 

 are opened to the spring breezes, the elm twigs are furry with reddish 

 green blossoms. The blossom consists of a calyx with an irregular 

 number of lobes, and for every lobe, a stamen which consists of a thread- 

 like filament from which hangs a bright red anther ; at the center is a two- 

 celled pistil with two light green styles. These blossoms appear in March 

 or early April, before the leaves. 



When full-grown the fruit hangs like beaded fringe from the twigs. The 

 seed is flat and has a wide, much veined margin or wing, notched at the tip 

 and edged with a white silken fringe ; the seed is at the center, wrinkled and 

 flat. Each seed shows at its base the old calyx and is attached by a slender 

 threadlike stem to the twig at the axils of last year's leaves. A little later 

 the lusty breezes of spring break the frail threads and release the seeds, 

 although few of them find places fit for growth. 



The elm roots 

 are water hunters 

 and extend deep 

 into the earth ; they 

 will grow towards 

 water, seeming to 

 know the waj'. The 

 elm heart-wood is 

 reddish, the sap- 

 wood being broad 

 andwhitish in color ; 

 the wood is very 

 tough because of 

 theinterlaced fibers, 

 and therefore very 

 hard to split. It is 

 used for cooperage, 

 wheel hubs, sad- 

 dlery, and is now 

 used more exten- 

 sively for furniture ; 

 its grain is most 

 ornamental. It is 

 fairly durable as posts, but perhaps the greatest use of all for the 

 tree is for shade. The slippery elm is much like the white elm, 

 except that its inner bark is very mucilaginous, and children love to 

 chew it. The cork elm has a peculiar corky growth on its branches, 

 giving it a very unkempt look. The wahoo, or winged elm, is a small 

 tree, and its twigs arc ornamented on each side by a corky layer. The 

 English ekn has a solid, round head, very different from that of our graceful 



Elm blossoms. 

 Photo by Ralph Curtis. 



