Handbook of Trees of the Noethekn States axd CAisrADA. 189 



The Slippery Kliii attains the height of 60 

 or 70 ft. with straight columnar trunk rarely 

 more than 2 or 3 ft. in diameter. When iso- 

 lated the trunk divides usually within a few 

 feet of the ground into a few large limbs 

 which branch and develop into a graceful 

 broad-topped head, similar to that of the 

 White Elm. Its larger rougher rugose leaves 

 are features which readily distinguish it. 



It thrives best in the rich soil of bottom- 

 lands and along the banks of streams. Here 

 it is usually associated with the Burr and 

 Swamp White Oaks, Black, Silver, and Red 

 Maples, Hackberry, etc., but it is also found, 

 though in smaller stature, on rocky ridges 

 and slopes. Its fragrant mucilaginous inner 

 tark is used in medicine and is also some- 

 what nutricious, a fact which occasionally 

 leads to the destruction by boys, who sometimes 

 literally skin it alive when once its identity 

 is discovered. 



A cubic foot of the absolutely dry wood 

 weighs 43.35 lbs. It is tough and strong and 

 especially valued for the ribs of small boats 

 and in the manufacture of agricultural imple- 

 ments, for railway ties, etc. 2 



Leaves obovate-oblong, from obtuse to subcord- 

 ate and inequilateral at base, abruptly acuminate 

 at apex, doubly serrate, thick, firm, rugose, dark 

 green and very rough above, pale tomentose be- 

 neath, especially in the axils of the veins ; buds 

 obtuse or rounded, densely rusty tomentose. 

 Floivers in crowded spreading fascicles with short 

 pedicels ; calyx 7-9-lobed ; stigmas reddish purple. 

 Fruit ripening when the leaves are about hall 

 grown, suborbicular. V->-% in. long with tomentose 

 cell and broad thin glabrous wings. 



1. TJlmus fulva Michx. 



2. A. W., I, 11. 



