ELM

a genus of trees (Ulmus; nat. ord. Ulmaceee), consisting of eighteen species, natives of the northern temperate zone and mountains of Tropical Asia. They have bisexual flowers with a campanulate calyx, as many stamens as there are divisions in the limb of the calyx, and two styles. Two species are common in Britain, Ulmus campestris and Ulmus montana, with many varieties. The Ulmus campestris, or common 136 ELMAN elm, is a fine tree, of rapid and erect growth, and yielding a tall stem, remarkable for the uniformity of its diameter throughout. It is very common as a timber tree in England; but as it rarely produces seed it is questionable whether it is indigenous. It is a native of the south and middle of Europe, and the west of Asia. The average height of a mature tree is 70 or 80 feet, but some reach a height of 150 feet. The wood is brown, hard, of fine grain, not apt to crack, and is used for many purposes. The tree generally attains maturity in seventy or eighty years. Ulmus montana (the mountain or wych elm), a native of Scotland, grows to a le height than the English elm, is of slower growth, and yields a much shorter bole, but it is far bolder in its ramification and more hardy. It usually attains to the height of about 50 feet. It does not produce suckers, like the English elm, but yields seed freely. The timber is strong and elastic, and the tree often yields large protuberances of gnarled wood, finely knotted and veined, and much esteemed for veneering. Ulmus glabra, the smooth-leaved elm, is a variety common in some parts of Britain. It first appeared about the middle of the eighteenth century. The most ornamental tree of the genus is Ulmus montana, variety pendula, the weeping elm. The American or white elm (Ulmus american a) is abundant in the Western States, attaining its loftiest stature between lat. 42° and 46°; here it reaches the height of 100 feet, with a trunk 4 or 5 feet in diameter, rising sometimes 60 or 70 feet, before it separates into a few primary limbs. Its wood is not much esteemed. The red or slippery elm (Ulmus fulva) is found throughout a great extent of country in Canada, Mi euri, and as far south as lat. 31°; it attains the height of 50 or 60 feet, with a trunk 15 or 20 inches in diameter; the wood is of better quality than that of the white elm. The leaves and bark yield an abundant mucilage. The wahoo (Ulmus aldta), inhabiting from lat. 37° to Florida, Louisiana, and Arkansas, is a small tree, 30 feet high. The branches are furnished on two opposite sides with wings of cork 2 or 3 lines wide; the wood is fine grained and heavy. enc. ‘a ELMAN, Mischa. Ru ian violinist. Born Jan. 20, 1891, son of a Jewish sehoolmaster, he made his first appearance in public in St, Petersburg in 1904. In 1905 he played in London and was soon recognised as one of the world’s masters. In 1920 he was naturalised as an American and made his home in New York.