Part 152 (1/2)

[*] _Flowers nearly sessile; fruit orbicular, not ciliate; leaves very rough above._

1. U. fulva, Michx. (SLIPPERY or RED ELM.) Buds before expansion soft-downy with rusty hairs (large); leaves ovate-oblong, taper-pointed, doubly serrate (4--8' long, sweet-scented in drying), soft-downy beneath or slightly rough downward; branchlets downy; calyx-lobes and stamens 5--9; fruit (8--9” wide) with the cell p.u.b.escent.--Rich soil, N. Eng.

to Dak., and southward. March, April.--A small or middle-sized tree (45--60 high), with tough reddish wood, and a very mucilaginous inner bark.

[*][*] _Flowers on slender drooping pedicels, which are jointed above the middle; fruit ovate or oval, fringed-ciliate; leaves smooth above, or nearly so._

2. U. Americana, L. (AMERICAN or WHITE ELM.) _Buds and branchlets_ glabrous; _branches not corky_; leaves obovate-oblong or oval, abruptly pointed, sharply and often doubly serrate (2--4' long), soft-p.u.b.escent beneath, or soon glabrous; _flowers in close fascicles_; calyx with 7--9 roundish lobes; _fruit glabrous_ except the margins (' long), its sharp points incurved and closing the notch.--Moist woods, especially along rivers, in rich soil. April.--A large and well-known ornamental tree, variable in habit, usually with spreading branches and drooping branchlets.

3. U. racemsa, Thomas. (CORK or ROCK ELM.) _Bud-scales downy-ciliate_ and somewhat p.u.b.escent, as are the young branchlets; _branches often with corky ridges_; leaves nearly as in the last, but with veins more simple and straight; _flowers racemed_; fruit much as in the last, but rather larger.--River-banks, S. W. Vt. to Ont. and central Minn., south to Mo. and Ky. A large and very valuable tree.

4. U. alata, Michx. (WAHOO or WINGED ELM.) _Bud-scales and branchlets nearly glabrous; branches corky-winged_, at least some of them; leaves downy beneath, ovate-oblong and oblong-lanceolate, acute, thickish, small (1--2' long); calyx-lobes obovate; fruit downy on the face at least when young.--Va. to S. Ind., S. Mo., and southward. March. A small tree.

2. PLaNERA, Gmelin. PLANER-TREE.

Flowers monciously polygamous. Calyx 4--5-cleft. Stamens 4--5. Ovary ovoid, 1-celled, 1-ovuled, crowned with 2 spreading styles which are stigmatose down the inner side, in fruit becoming coriaceous and nut-like, not winged. Alb.u.men none; embryo straight.--Trees with small leaves, like those of Elms, the flowers appearing with them, in small axillary cl.u.s.ters. (Named for _J. J. Planer_, a German botanist.)

1. P. aquatica, Gmel. Nearly glabrous; leaves ovate-oblong, small; fruit stalked in the calyx, beset with irregular rough projections.--Wet banks, N. C. to Ky., S. Ill., and southward. April. A rather small tree.

3. CeLTIS, Tourn. NETTLE-TREE. HACKBERRY.

Flowers monciously polygamous. Calyx 5--6-parted, persistent. Stamens 5--6. Ovary 1-celled, with a single suspended ovule; stigmas 2, long and pointed, recurved. Fruit a globular drupe. Embryo curved, nearly enclosing a little gelatinous alb.u.men; cotyledons folded and crumpled.--Leaves pointed, petioled, inequilateral. Stipules caducous.

Flowers greenish, axillary, the fertile solitary or in pairs, peduncled, appearing with the leaves, the lower usually staminate only, fascicled or racemose along the base of the branches of the season. (A name of Pliny's for an African species of Lotus.)

1. C. occidentalis, L. (SUGARBERRY. HACKBERRY.) _Leaves reticulated_, ovate, cordate-ovate and ovate-lanceolate, taper-pointed, usually conspicuously and sharply so, more or less oblique at base, _sharply serrate_, sometimes sparingly so or only toward the apex, scabrous but mostly glabrous above, usually soft-p.u.b.escent beneath, at least when young; fruit reddish or yellowish, turning dark purple at maturity, its peduncle once or twice the length of the petiole.--Woods and river-banks, N. Eng. to Minn., and southward. April, May.--A small or sometimes large tree, with the aspect of an Elm, bearing sweet and edible fruits as large as bird-cherries, at first obovate, ripe in autumn; the flesh thin. Very variable in the form, texture, etc., of the leaves.--Var. PuMILA, Gray. Low and straggling (4--10 high); leaves thin when mature, and smooth, _slightly ac.u.minate_. River-banks, on rocks, from Maryland southward.

2. C. Mississippiensis, Bosc. _Leaves entire_ (rarely few-toothed), _very long taper-pointed_, rounded at base, mostly oblique, thin, and smooth; fruit small.--Ill. to Tenn., and southward. A small tree with warty bark. (Addendum)--Celtis Mississippiensis. Common in low river-bottoms of W. Mo. (_F. Bush_); described as having a very smooth trunk, like a sycamore, and soft yellowish brittle wood, not coa.r.s.e-grained as in C. occidentalis.

4. CaNNABIS, Tourn. HEMP.

Flowers dicious; the sterile in axillary compound racemes or panicles, with 5 sepals and 5 drooping stamens. Fertile flowers spiked-cl.u.s.tered, 1-bracted; the calyx of a single sepal enlarging at the base and folded round the ovary. Achene crustaceous. Embryo simply curved.--A tall roughish annual, with digitate leaves of 5--7 linear-lanceolate coa.r.s.ely toothed leaflets, the upper alternate; the inner bark of very tough fibres. (The ancient Greek name, of obscure etymology.)

C. SATVA, L. (HEMP.) Stem 4--8 high; leaves 4--8' broad; flowers green.--Waste and cultivated ground. (Adv. from Eu.)

5. HuMULUS, L. HOP.

Flowers dicious; the sterile in loose axillary panicles, with 5 sepals and 5 erect stamens. Fertile flowers in short axillary and solitary spikes or catkins; bracts foliaceous, imbricated, each 2-flowered, in fruit forming a sort of membranaceous strobile. Calyx of a single sepal, embracing the ovary. Achene invested with the enlarged scale-like calyx.

Embryo coiled in a flat spiral.--Twining rough perennials, with stems almost p.r.i.c.kly downward, and mostly opposite heart-shaped and palmately 3--7-lobed leaves, with persistent ovate stipules between the petioles.

(A late Latin name, of Teutonic origin.)

1. H. Lupulus, L. (COMMON HOP.) Leaves mostly 3--5-lobed, commonly longer than the petioles; bracts, etc., smoothish; the fruiting calyx, achene, etc., sprinkled with yellow resinous grains, which give the bitterness and aroma to the hop.--Alluvial banks, N. Eng. to western N. Y., the Great Lakes and westward, and south in the mountains to Ga.

July. (Eu., Asia.)

6. MACLuRA, Nutt. OSAGE ORANGE. BOIS D'ARC.