Elm

Elm, the popular name for the various trees and shrubs forming the genus Ulmus, a group of about a dozen species native to the North Temperate region, and forming the type of the small apetalous order Ulmaceae. They have furrowed, corky bark; scattered, simple, oblique leaves with caducous stipules; tufts of hermaphrodite flowers, generally produced before the leaves; from four to nine lobe's to the bell-shaped, persistent calyx; an equal number of stamens; and a two-chambered, -one-seeded samara (q.v.) with a membranous wing all round it. The species are very variable, becoming mere shrubs in the far north, but forming large timber-trees, 60 to 100, or even 150 feet high, farther south. U. campestris, the common or English elm, most common south of the Trent, reaches the greatest height, and often sends out very long, horizontal limbs. It is multiplied by suckers - its fruit, in which the seed is above the centre, seldom ripening. It is, partly on this account, believed not to be indigenous in England. It attains maturity at 150 years; but may live to 600 years. The Wych or Scotch elm, U. montana, more common north of the Trent, has a more drooping habit, no suckers, and its seed in the centre of its fruit. The American elm, V. Americana, has its samara fringed with hairs, and another American species, the Slippery elm, U. fulva, has a mucilaginous inner bark, useful as an ointment. Elm leaves form a useful fodder, and the branches of the Wych elm were formerly used for bows. The whitish sapwood is as strong as the brown heartwood and used to be made into linen-chests and hollowed out into water-pipes. Being durable when alternately damp and dry, elm-timber is used for keels and pumps; but is now mainly employed in coffin-making. In Italy the tree is still used, as in the time of Virgil, as a prop for the vine. It is a favourite avenue tree, the soft-wood Dutch variety having been largely planted for this purpose during the last two centuries.