850 



The Flora of Wiltshire. 



Inflorescence of the barren plant in small yellowish -green panicles ; 

 of the fertile one in axillary catkins. The fragrant bitter quality 

 for which the hop is chiefly valued, resides in the catkins of the 

 fertile plant ; an active principle has been obtained from these 

 called Jjupulin, which as well as the hop itself, is sometimes used 

 medicinally as a sedative. 



ORDER. ULMACE2E. (MIRR.) 

 Ulmus, (Linn.) Elm. 

 Linn. CI. v. Ord. ii. 

 Named, according to Theis, from the Anglo-Saxon Elm; and 

 Olm is still the Dutch, and JJlm the German word for this tree ; 

 but all these are derived from the Hebrew id, to be strong, or 

 vigorous, from the growth of the tree and quality of the timber. 



1. U. suberosa, (Ehrh.) common Elm. Engl. Bot. t. 1866. U. 

 canipestris, Sm. (and most authors, not Linn.) U. suberosa, (Ehrh.) 

 Engl. Bot. £2161. 



Locality. Woods and hedges. T. Fl. March, May \ Area 1. 2. 3. 4.5 . 



Common in all the Districts. The most common timber- tree in 

 our hedge rows, and one of the first magnitude, from 60 to 80 or 

 100 feet high, emitting copious suckers from the root, and even 

 from the trunk at a considerable height, the branches spreading 

 irregularly, and much divided, hairy at their tips, covered, as well 

 as the trunk, with a rough deeply cleft, or chapped bark, which on 

 very small and young trees often forms winged appendages of a 

 corky texture. Leaves shortly accuminate, doubly or somewhat 

 simply serrate. Flowers produced long before the leaves, (small) 

 4-5-cleft, segments ciliate, samara broadest above the middle, 

 glabrous, shortly bifid at the apex, the seminiferous cavity chiefly 

 above the middle, and extending almost to the notch. 1 



2. U. montana, (With.) broad-leaved Elm or Wych Hazel. 



Engl. Bot. t 1887. IT. major Smith ? 



1 In Wiltshire we have some fine examples of this tree ; perhaps the largest 

 is at Holt near Bradford, measuring on the ground round the " claws" 42 feet, 

 while five feet from the ground the hutt only measures 22 feet ; and there are 

 several others in the immediate neighbourhood of nearly equal size, as I am 

 informed by the Rev. Prebendary "Wilkinson. In Spye Park noble specimens 

 of the common elm may be likewise found, from 80 to 100 feet high — also in 

 Charlton Park, Erie Stoke, and in the Close at Salisbury. 



