us; 



€I)c &ria£urg at 2Soten». 



[ULMU 



dwindles in size, and in the more exposed 

 regions is hardly known. In Russia and 

 Sweden it occurs only as a greenhouse 

 plant, and even in the South of. England 

 an unseasonably severe frost nips the 

 flowers or sometimes destroys all the ex- 

 posed part of the plant. Unlike the spines 

 of Primus and Mespilus, which are modifi- 

 cations of branches, and the prickles of 

 Bubics and Rosa, which are simply exten- 

 sions of the cuticle, the thorns of Furze 

 represent leaves. The true leaves are 

 minute, situated at the base of the thorns, 

 and most observable in young seedlings. 



U. europwus is distinguished by the two 

 bracts at the base of the calyx being ovate 

 concave and somewhat spreading. The 

 double-flowered Furze of gardens is a 

 variety of this species, as is also the Irish 

 Furze, distinguished by the softness of its 

 | upright branches. U. nana, the Dwarf 

 Furze, called also French Furze, is a much 

 smaller plant, specifically distinguished by 

 its minute adpressed bracts. The flowers 

 are of a deeper yellow, and expand in the 

 greatest profusion at the season when 

 heath is in blossom, with which it harmo- 

 nises beautifully in colouring. French : 

 Ajonc : German : Steehginster. [C. A. J.] 



U. europceus, the young leaves of which 

 are trifoliolate, like so many others of the 

 order, has been much recommended for 

 cultivation, and especially on soils almost 

 too poor to grow anything else. In the 

 Cyclopaedia of Agriculture we find it thus 

 noticed: '"When regularly cut down every 

 year, the annual shoots, mown as wanted, 

 and bruised to deaden the prickles, supply 

 a green food throughout the winter, which 

 all animals, and especially horses, are par- 

 ticularly fond of. When cultivated the 

 seeds sown are either .collected from the 

 wild plants, or from a variety which, by 

 successive cultivation, has become rather 

 more succulent and productive.' Our own 

 observations on the use of both the wild 

 and the cultivated Furze as food for cattle, 

 lead to the conclusion that its feeding 

 properties are too low to render its gather- 

 ing and preparation at all a remunerative 

 matter: still less does its value at all 

 warrant the purchase of crushing machi- 

 nery, which has been invented for bruis- 

 ing the prickly plant. [J. B.] 



ULIGINOSE. Growing in swampy places. 



ULLAT-KUMU. An Indian name for 

 Abrorna augusta. 



ULLPU A drink obtained from the 

 farina of the seeds of Milium nigricans. 



ULLUCO. The Peruvian name of Ullu- 

 cus tuberosus. 



ULLUCUS. A genus of Basellacea, sy- 

 nonymous with Melloca : which see. 

 Ulluco and Melloca are native names for 

 the best-known species, which is a fleshy | 

 Peruvian herb, with astern throwing out 

 thread-like branches, which when they en- 

 ter the earth pr >duce edible tubers. The 

 plant is extensively cultivated for the*e 

 tubers in the Andes of Peru and Bolivia, 

 under the name of Oca-quina. They are 



about the size of a hazel-nut, waxy, and of a 

 yellow colour. When the failure of the po- 

 tato was dreaded, this plant was one of the 

 substitutesproposed;but the tubers proved 

 far less agreeable to British palates than 

 might have been supposed from the de- 



Ullucua tuberosus. 



mand for them in South America, where 

 they are used by thelndiansin the prepara- 

 tion of Chuna, a starchysubstance obtained 

 by alternately freezing and steeping them. 

 A second species, U. peruvianus, is possibly 

 not distinct from U. tuberosus. [J. T. S.J 



ULMACE^E. (Celtidece, Mmworts.) A 

 small order of apetalous dicotyledons, con- 

 sidered by some botanists as a suborder of 

 Urticacece but differing from them in their 

 hermaphrodite flowers ; by others the two 

 groups are widely separated. They are all 

 trees or shrubs, with rough alternate leaves, 

 furnished with stipules, and small green 

 or brown flowers in loose clusters or cymes. 

 They have a small calyx-like often irregu- 

 lar perianth, definite stamens, and a free 

 ovary, either one or two-celled, but always 

 with two styles or stigmas. Tbey consist 

 of two tribes, raised by some botanists to 

 the rank of natural orders : the Ulmeee 

 proper, with a two-celled ovary— including 

 Ulmus and four or five other genera, dis- 

 persed over the temperate regions of the 

 Northern Hemisphere, and often very valu- 

 able timber-trees ; and the Celtidece,yvith a 

 one-celled ovary, many of them tropical, 

 comprising four or live genera, of which 

 the most extensive are Celtis and Sponia. 



ULMAIRE. (Fr.) Spiraea Ulmaria. 



ULMUS. A genus of lofty trees giving 

 name to the order Ulmacece, to be distin- 

 guished among other British trees In 

 March and April by their purplish-brown 

 flowers, which, though small, are so nume- 

 rous as to tinge the whole tree; in April 

 by their green membranous leaf-like seed- 

 vessels ; and all the summer by their harsh 

 serrated pointed simple leaves, which are 

 unequal at the base. Much difference of 

 opinion exists among botanists as to which 

 of the Elms should be considered species s 

 and which varieties. 



