ZELKOVA 



Zelkova^ Spach, in Ann. Sc. Nat. sdr. 2, xv. 356 (1841) 5 Bentham et Hooker, Gen. PL iii. 353 



(1880); Nicholson, in Woods and Forests, 1884, p. 176. 

 Abelicea, Reichenbach, Consp. Veg. 84 (1828); Schneider, Laubhohkunde, i. 224 (1904)- 

 Planera, Gmehn, subgenus Abelicea, Planchon, in Ann. Sc. Nat. s^r. 3, x. 261 (1848). 



Deciduous trees or shrubs, belonging to the order Ulmaceae. Branchlets slender, 

 distichous. Leaves alternate, distichous, simple, shortly stalked, penni- nerved, 

 crenately serrate. Stipules in pairs, membranous, lanceolate, caducous. 



Flowers monoecious ; corolla absent ; calyx, four- or five-lobed. Staminate 

 flowers, clustered, two to five together, on the branchlets below the leaves or in the 

 axils of the lowermost leaves ; disc absent ; stamens, four or five, with short, erect 

 filaments and exserted anthers ; ovary rudimentary or absent. Pistillate flowers, 

 solitary in the axils of the uppermost leaves ; disc cupular, fleshy ; staminodes 

 present or absent ; ovary sessile ; styles, two, stigmatiferous on the inner side ; 

 ovule solitary, pendulous. Fruit, a small drupe, sessile, subtended by the persistent 

 calyx, subglobose, oblique, veined or rugose on the surface, crowned by the remains 

 of the styles, persisting as two minute beaks ; with a membranous or slightly 

 fleshy outer covering, and a thin, hard endocarp or stone, containing a compressed, 

 concave, horizontal seed, without albumen. The fruit ripens late in autumn, and 

 persists on the branchlets till the following spring. 



In Zelkova no true terminal bud is formed, and the tip of the branchlet falls off 

 in early summer, leaving a small circular scar at the apex of the twig. The base of 

 the shoot is ringed with the scars of the inner scales of the previous season's bud, 

 and shows, as a rule, a few of the outer scales persisting dry and membranous. 

 The buds, all axillary, and composed of numerous imbricated scales, are often 

 multiple, two being then developed, side by side, in a single axil. The leaf-scars 

 are narrow, crescentic, and three-dotted ; with a linear stipule-scar on each side. In 

 Ulmus the buds are single in the axils, and none of the scales persist at the base of 

 the shoot. 



Three species of Zelkova^ are known to exist in the wild state, two of which are 

 large trees well known in cultivation, Z. acuminata, Planchon, a native of China and 



1 The name Zelkm)a is sanctioned, and Abelicea rejected in Actes Cangris Intemat. Bot. Vienne, 77 (1906). 



2 Hemipteka Davidii, Planchon, Compt. Rend. Acad. Paris, Ixxiv. 1496 (1872), a thorny tree, occurring in northern 

 and central China and Korea, is united with Zelkova by Bentham and Hooker, in Gen. PI. iii. p. 353. It differs from that 

 genus m havmg winged fruit. Cf. Schneider, Laubhohkunde, i. 224. This species does not appear to be in cultivation in 

 Europe. 



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