Part 36

=Quercus imbricaria=, Michx.

=Form=.—Height 50-100 feet, diameter 1-3 feet; crown pyramidal or round-topped and open, with drooping lateral branches.

=Leaves=.—Alternate, simple, 4-6 inches long, oblong or lanceolate, margins entire or sometimes undulate, with acute apex, dark green and lustrous above, pale and hairy beneath.

=Flowers=.—May, with the leaves; monoecious; staminate flowers borne on long catkins; the pistillate on short stalks.

=Fruit=.—Acorns mature the second autumn after the flowers; cup saucer-shaped, brown and glossy inside, with reddish-brown scales, and enclosing about ½ of the ovoid, dark brown, often striate nut.

=Bark=.—With shallow fissures and with ridges having brown scales.

=Wood=.—Heavy, hard, coarse-grained, reddish-brown.

=Range=.—Pennsylvania to Georgia west to Michigan. Nebraska and Arkansas.

=Distribution in West Virginia=.—Locally distributed in many parts of the State, but nowhere common. Observed in Barbour, Grant, Hardy, Mason, Monongalia, Morgan, and Upshur counties.

=Habitat=.—Prefers bottom lands along streams.

=Notes=.—This oak is unusual in appearance since the leaves are entirely without lobes. It cannot be recommended for forestry purposes.

SLIPPERY ELM

=Ulmus fulva=, Michx.

=Form=.—Height 40-80 feet, diameter 1-2½ feet; trunk usually short and soon branching; crown open and broad.

=Leaves=.—Alternate, simple, 5-7 inches long, ovate-oblong, oblique at base, abruptly sharp-pointed apex, margin doubly serrate, rough-hairy on both sides.

=Flowers=.—April, before the leaves; mostly perfect; on short pedicels in crowded branches; corolla absent, calyx green, anthers red, two stigmas purple.

=Fruit=.—Matures in spring a few weeks after the flowers; a one-seeded samara consisting of a small flat seed surrounded by a wing which is nearly circular in outline and smooth, except over the seed cavity.

=Bark=.—Thick, divided by fissures and with large, thick appressed scales, brown tinged with red within, inner bark fragrant, mucilaginous and slippery.

=Wood=.—Heavy, hard, strong, reddish-brown, with thin sapwood.

=Range=.—Southeastern Canada to Florida, west to North Dakota and Texas.

=Distribution in West Virginia=.—Common locally, rare in many sections. Found in the following counties: Barbour, Braxton, Clay, Fayette, Grant, Mingo, Monongalia, Pocahontas, Putnam, Roane, Tyler, Upshur and Wetzel.

=Habitat=.—Fertile, rocky soil.

=Notes=.—The slippery, inner bark, the smooth-margined fruits and the rusty-brown, orbicular, pubescent buds distinguish this from other elms. It is not an important tree for forest planting. It is sometimes called Red Elm.

AMERICAN ELM

=Ulmus americana=, L.

=Form=.—Height 60-100 feet, diameter 2-6 feet, sometimes much larger; trunk usually dividing 25-30 feet above the ground; crown varied in form, usually wide-spreading.

=Leaves=.—Alternate, simple, 4-6 inches long, oval, coarsely-doubly-serrate, oblique at the base, thick, dark green and rough above, paler and smoother beneath.

=Flowers=.—April, before the leaves, mostly perfect; borne in dense fascicles, corolla absent, calyx 5-9 round-lobed, stamens with red anthers, styles two, green.