218 SYLVA FLORIFERA. 



bouring elms, whose roots have run into dif- 

 ferent strata, forming almost a different variety 

 of this tree. 



Linnseus considered all the European elms 

 as making only one species, whilst Ray and 

 Goody er describe four ; but modern botanists 

 distinguish only two species, and consider the 

 other kinds as varieties of these. The com- 

 mon elm, ubnus campestris, gives out its flowers 

 generally about the end of March, which are 

 monopetalous, and bell-shaped, closely thrust 

 together on the twigs or branches. They 

 make so little show, that they would scarcely 

 be perceptible were they not to make their 

 appearance before the leaves come out. This 

 species of elm does not flower until it has 

 acquired considerable size and height. The 

 seeds, which are not much unlike the garden 

 arach seed in size and form, generally fall 

 about the time the leaves come out, and few 

 of them hang to ripen. The leaves are what 

 botanists denominate doubly serrate, that is, 

 with small teeth upon each of the large ones, 

 like some descriptions of saws. The elm leaf 

 is rough and harsh on both sides, and the leaf 

 is remarkable for having the principal nerve 

 not quite in the middle; therefore the branch- 

 ing nerves are longer on one side than the other. 



The broad-leaved elm, Wich elm, or Wych 



