Complimentary 
NEW SERIES VOL. VIII 
NO. 13 
ARNOLD ARBORETUM 
HARVARD UNIVERSITY 
BULLETIN 
OF 
POPULAR INFORMATION 
JAMAICA PLAIN. MASS. JUNE 30. 1922 
English Elms. There is still apparently much confusion in popular 
understanding in this country in regard to the trees known here as 
“English Elms,” and it does not seem to be generally understood that 
there are four distinct species of Elm-trees now growing naturally in 
England, and that among the trees sometimes cultivated are hybrids 
of these species which also in the popular mind pass as English Elm- 
trees. 
Ulmus procera. This is the name now adopted for the tree which is 
generally known as English Elm in Boston where it has proved one of 
the best foreign trees ever planted in Massachusetts. It has been 
growing here for more than a century, and nearly one hundred years 
ago Major Paddock had a nursery at Milton for the propogation and 
sale of this tree. Probably no tree, native or foreign, which has been 
planted in the neighborhood of Boston has grown to such a large size. 
The Paddock Elms, which stood on Tremont Street in front of the 
Granary Burying Ground, were of this species, as were the great Elms 
on the Tremont Street Mall of the Common which were killed by the 
Subway. The Elm-trees on each side of the Shaw Monument opposite 
the State House are of this species, and there are still large specimens 
in the suburbs of the city. This is the common Elm-tree of southern 
England where it grows usually in hedge-rows, although it has been 
largely planted in parks. It often grows one hundred feet tall with a 
massive stem covered with dark deeply furrowed bark, spreading or 
ascending branches which form a comparatively narrow oval head, and 
slender branchlets thickly covered during their first year with down. 
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