Index    Handbook of the Trees of New England by Lorin Low Dame, Henry Brooks

Ulmus racemosa, Thomas. Cork Elm. Rock Elm.

Habitat and Range.—Dry, gravelly soils, rich soils, river banks.

Maine,—not reported; New Hampshire,—rare and extremely local; Meriden and one or two other places (Jessup); Vermont,—rare, Bennington, Pownal (Robbins), Knowlton (Brainerd), Highgate (Eggleston); comparatively abundant in Champlain valley and westward (T. H. Haskins, Garden and Forest, V, 86); Massachusetts,—rare; Rhode Island and Connecticut,—not reported native.

Habit.—A large tree, scarcely inferior at its best to U. Americana, 50-75 feet high, with a trunk diameter of 2-3 feet; reaching in southern Michigan a height of 100 feet and a diameter of 5 feet; trunk rather slender; branches short and stout, often twiggy in the interior of the tree; branchlets slender, spreading, sometimes with a drooping tendency; head rather narrow, round-topped.

Bark.—Bark of trunk brownish-gray, in old trees irregularly separated into deep, wide, flat-topped ridges; branches grayish-brown; leaf-scars conspicuous; season's shoots light brown, more or less pubescent or glabrous, oblong-dotted; branches and branchlets often marked lengthwise with corky, wing-like ridges.

Winter Buds and Leaves.—Buds ovate to oblong, pointed, scales downy-ciliate, pubescent. Leaves simple, alternate, 3-4 inches long, half as wide, glabrous above, minutely pubescent beneath; outline ovate, doubly serrate (less sharp than the serratures in U. Americana); apex acuminate; base inequilateral, produced and rounded on one side, acute or slightly rounded on the other; veins straight; leafstalk short, stout; stipules soon falling.

Inflorescence.—April to May. Appearing before the leaves from lateral buds of the preceding season, in drooping racemes; calyx lobes 7-8, broad-triangular, with rounded edges and a mostly obtuse apex: pedicels thread-like, jointed; stamens 5-10, exserted, anthers purple, ovary 2-styled: stigmas recurved or spreading.

Fruit.—Samara ovate, broadly oval, or obovate, pubescent, margin densely fringed, resembling fruit of U. Americana but somewhat larger.

Horticultural Value.—Hardy throughout New England; prefers a moist, rich soil, in open situations; less variable in habit than the American elm and a smaller tree with smaller foliage, scarcely varying enough to justify its extensive use as a substitute. Not often obtainable in nurseries, but readily transplanted, and easily propagated from the seed.

Plate L.—Ulmus racemosa.