WHITE ELM. tMERIC w ELM 



I 'hints (in/i ricana I .. 



The Elm Family 



n II M BA1 



Hahit and Habitat: A large tree, 40-70 feet tall and with a trunk 

 diameter of 24-36 inches in our state; the trunk commonly dividi 

 25 feet above the ground into a few (2-6) i i aceful brand 



which rise upward and outward to form a crown with a broad, vs 

 shaped outline, more rarely a rounded crown. Prefers deep, rich. m< 

 imy soils of river-' anks and bottom-lands, but grows fairly well e\ 

 in rather dry, rocky situations. 



Leaves and Buds: Leaves alternate, simple. 3-5 inches Long, one- 

 half as t)TOad, oblong to oval, coarsely and doubly serrate, thick and 



firm, lateral veins prominent and approximately parallel, dark green 

 and rough above, pale and smooth or somewhat hairy beneath, often 

 y oblique or unsymmetrical at the base; petioles short and stout. 

 Winter buds prominent, ovoid, acute, flattened toward the twig, smooth, 

 brown, }£ inch lor.. 



Flowers and Fruits: Flowers small, brown or red, usually pro- 

 duced in March before the leaves, perfect, borne on slender pedicels in 

 loose cluster.-: calyx bell-shaped. 5-8-lobed; corolla 0; stamens 5-10, 

 bright red: ovary broad, green; styles 2. Fruit maturing in May, 

 broad oval or ovate, 1 -seeded structure with a flat, membranous wing 

 about the seed; Wing hairy-fringed and notched at the tip, produced in 

 long-stemmed crowded clusters, often in great abundance. 



Bark, Twigs and Wood: The young twigs are green and more or 

 less downy, but become smooth, reddish-brown and finally ashen or gray; 

 the bark on old trunks is thick, ashen-colored, and deeply fissured into 

 bn ad, more or less scaly longitudinal ridges. Wood reddish-brown, 

 sapwood pale brown, heavy, hard, strong, tough, rather coarse-grained, 

 hard to split especially when dry; used for wheel hubs, saddletrees, 

 cooperage and the cheaper grades of furniture, as well as for fence 

 posts and fuel. 



Distribution in the State: The white elm occurs throughout east- 

 ern I 'nit' 'es where it is one of our famous and highly prized tn 

 It has extended into Nebraska from the forests of Iowa and Missouri 

 and has become distributed entirely across the state. Some of the largest 

 specimens of this speci' found in the cool, moist canyons in the 

 northern part of the state and in Sioux county, in the extreme north- 

 western corner. It has also been planted more generally and more 

 widely in all parts of tl. - a street and ornamental tree than any 

 other native or introduced species, with the possible exception of the 

 imon cottonwood. Map 30. 



Remarks: The white elm is one of our historic American trees as 

 typified in the Was: elm in Cambridj and the 



lliam Penn elm in Philadelphia which wai rs old at the time 



it was blown down in 1810. The peculiar toughness of the wood has 



n immortalized by Oliver Wendell Holmes in his "The Wonderful 



SI . b e hubs were made from the "Sett' Hum". 



Th- crows rapidly and is lonsr-lived. It is an ideal and park 



of the most beautiful of all American ' 



-97— 



