I 40h 



ARBORETUM AND PRUTICETUM, 



>ART 111. 



v 9. r. imerica^na /-. The American Elm. 



Lin. Sp. PL, 827. ; Willd. Sp. PI., 1. p. 1825., exclusive of the var. y; Willd. Enum. 



Hort BeroL, p. 295.. ai d Suppl., p. 14 ; Poiret Encyd. Moth., 4. p till. ; Michx. Fl. Bor. Amer., 2. 



\\ 172. ; Rata el Schult S\st., 6. p. 300. ; Pursh Fl. Amer. Sept., 1. p. 199., exclusive of the var. 



P. 269. ; North Amer. Sylva, & p.88. t. 126. ; Ait. Hort. Kew., No. S., exclusive 



of the \.ir. pendula j Smith in Rees's Cyclop., No. 7. ; Lodd. Cat, ed. lSoii. 



l'ho white Elm, Amer.', the Canadian Elm; the American white Elm. 

 rnii:>: Bfichz. North Amer. Sylva, 3. t. 126. ; and our jig. 1246. 



Spec. Char,, <$-c. Leaf with the petiole 1 — U in. long, and hairy with short 

 hairs; and the ili.sk unequal at the base, 4 — 5 in. long, inclusive of a long 

 acuminate point, 2 — 2.\in. broad, serrate, and mostly doubly so; the axils 

 of the veins underneath joined by a membrane. Flowers ped uncled, effuse ; 

 peduncles short, glabrous. Stamens 5 and 8. Samara fringed at the edge 

 with hairs, ovate, acute. (Willd. Enum. and Supply Rcem. ct Schult. Syst. 

 . ) This species is readily distinguishable from others by the membrane 

 which appears at the axils of the veins. {Willd. Enum. Suppl.) Young- 

 branches brown, with short, very fine hairs. Leaves deeply green above, 

 almost glossy, rough ; beneath, pale, downy. Flowers like those of U. effusa. 

 Wild in North America, in low woods, from New England to Carolina. 

 A tree, growing, in North America, to the height of 80 ft. or 100 ft. Intro- 

 duced in 1752 ; but rarely flowering, and never ripening seeds, in England. 



Varieties. 



1 U. a. 1 rubra Ait. Hort. Kew., i. p. 319. — Branches red. Leaves ovate, 



rugose, rough. (Rami, ct Schult. Sj/st. Veg.) 

 t U. a. 2 alba Ait. Hort. Kew., i. p. 319. ; Marsh., p. 250. — Branches 



whitish. Leaves oblong, rough. ? U. mollifolia. (Rcem. ct Scliiill. 



Syst. Veg.) 

 *£ U. a. 3 pendula Pursh Fl. Amer. Sept., i. p. 200., Ait. Hort. Kew., 



1. p. 3 If)., Lodd. Cat., ed. 1830. — Branches pendulous. 

 1 I . a. 4 tncisa H. S. See the plate in our last Volume. — This variety 



differs from the other varieties, in having the leaves somewhat more 



deeply serrated, and rather smaller, approaching nearer to those of 



U. effusa. There is a tree in the Horticultural Society's Garden, 



which, in 1834, was 27ft. high. 



Description, fyc. The leaves of the white American elm, according to 

 Mil haux, are 4 in. or 5 in. long, borne on short petioles, alternate, unequal at 

 the base, oval-acuminate, and doubly denticulated : they are generally smaller 

 than those of the red elm ( f/'lmus (a.) fulva). The flowers 

 appear before the leaves, and are very small; of a purple 

 colour, supported by short slender footstalks, and united in 

 bunches at the extremity of the branches. The seeds are * 

 contained in flat, oval, fringed capsules, notched at the base. /.; 

 The trunk is covered with a tender white bark, very deeply v 

 furrowed. In favourable situations, on the banks of rivers, 

 the tree reaches a great height, and displays extraordinary 

 magnificence of vegetation. " In clearing the primitive 

 forests," says Michaux, " a few specimens of the white elm \ 

 ometimes left standing. Insulated in this manner, it '/K 

 BTS in all its majesty, towering to the height of 80 ft. or 

 100 ft., with a trunk 4 ft. or 5 ft. in diameter; regularly 

 shaped, naked, and insensibly diminishing to the height of 



60re. or 70ft. ; when it. divides itself into two or three * 

 primary limbs. The limbs, not widely divergent near the 



approach and cross each other 8 It. or 10 ft. higher. 

 all sides long, flexible, pendulous branches, bending into regular arches, and 

 Moating lightly in the air. A singularity is observed in this tree, which I 

 ed in no Other: tWO small limbs, 1ft. or 5 ft long, grow in a 

 ; o ' Ofl near the first ramification, and descend along the trunk." 

 ( X. Amer. Si/l , hi. p 8.',.; In New Hampshire, he adds, " a great number of 

 young white rims ;,n <•< n d< la* lied iii tli'- middle of the pastures : they 





