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WHITE ELM. 
Pentandria digynia. Linn. Amentaceæ. Juss. 
Ulmus Americana. U. ramis lævibus, pendulis ; foliis subuniformiter serratis ; 
floribus manifesté pedicellalis ; fructibus densissimo fimbriatis. 
This tree, which is known throughout the United States by the name 
of White Elm, is found over an extensive tract of the North American 
Continent. Toward the north, my father indicates its first appearance in 
the latitude of about 48° 20', 18 miles from the mouth of the river Mistas- 
sin, which empties into Lake St. John, in Canada. I have myself observed 
it from Nova Scotia to the extremity of Georgia, a distafice of 1200 miles. 
It abounds in all the Western States, and I have learned that it is common 
in the neighborhood of the great rivers that water Upper Louisiana and 
empty into the Mississippi. But it appeared to be the most multiplied and 
of the loftiest height between the 42d and 46th degrees of latitude, which 
comprise the provinces of Lower Canada, New Brunswick and Nova 
Scotia, the north-eastern Section of the United States, and Gennessee, in 
the State of New York. 
The leaves of the White Elm are 4 or 5 inches long, borne by short 
petioles, alternate, unequal at the base, oval-acuminate and doubly denti- 
culated. They are generally smaller than those of the Red Elm, of a 
thinner texture and a smoother surface, with more regular and prominent 
ribs. 
This species differs, also, essentially from the Red Elm and the European 
Elm in its flowers and seeds ; the flowers appear before the leaves, and are 
very small, of a purple color, supported by short, slender footstalks, and 
united in bunches at the extremity of the branches. The seeds are con- 
tained in a flat, oval, fringed capsule, notched at the base : the season of 
their maturity is from the 15th of May to the 1st of June. 
The White Elm delights in low, humid, substantial soils, such as in the 
Northern States are called interval lands. In the Middle States it grows 
in similar situations, and on the borders of swamps, where it is usually ac- 
companied by the White Oak, the Sweet Gum, the Tupelo, the Red Maple 
Ÿ0L. III.— 8 
