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.

[Illustration: PLATE L.--Ulmus racemosa.]

1. Winter buds, at the time the flowers open.
2. Flowering branch.
3. Flower, side view.
4. Flower, side view, perianth and stamens partly removed.
5. Fruiting branch.

CELTIS OCCIDENTALIS, L.

HACKBERRY. NETTLE TREE. HOOP ASH. SUGAR BERRY.

=Habitat and Range.=--In divers situations and soils; woods, river
banks, near salt marshes.

Province of Quebec to Lake of the Woods, occasional.

Maine,--not reported; New Hampshire,--