=3. Ulmus Thomási= Sargent. Hickory Elm. Rock Elm. Plate 59. Large
trees; bark deeply fissured and grayish like the bark of the white elm;
twigs light brown, generally densely hairy and remaining more or less
pubescent until the end of the season or later, the twigs of some
specimens are glabrous or only slightly hairy at first and soon become
glabrous and somewhat glaucous, after the first year some of the
branchlets begin to develop 1-4 corky ridges from a few millimeters to 5
or 6 mm. in thickness, the ridges are wide and rounded at the top, dark
gray, brown and discontinuous, rarely a corky ridge will appear on a
branchlet the first year; leaves oval or obovate, average blades 8-15
cm. long, at maturity glabrous and smooth or rough to very rough above,
permanently pubescent beneath especially on the veins; fruit ripens late
in May or early in June when the leaves are from 1/2 to 2/3 grown;
samara oval, usually 1.5-2 cm. long, oblique at the base, with a beak
2-5 mm. long at the apex, both faces pubescent, wing about as wide as
the seed; wood hard heavy, strong, flexible, uses the same as white elm.
=Distribution.=--Southern Quebec and Ontario south to northern New
Jersey and west to Minnesota and Missouri. The distribution in Indiana
has not been studied. The frequency of its occurrence is not known, and
all of the known stations are given. The published records are as
follows: Dearborn (Collins); Franklin (Meyncke); Hamilton (Wilson);
Jefferson (Barnes) and (Deam); Noble (VanGorder); Parke (Hobbs); St.
Joseph (Nieuwland); Steuben (Bradner); Wayne (Petry and Markle); Wells
(Deam). Additional records are Hendricks, Noble, Ripley, Vermillion and
Wayne by Deam. The published record for Posey County by Deam and Schneck
should be referred to _Ulmus alata_. It prefers a well drained soil and
is most frequently found near the base of the slope or on the top of
flood plain banks of streams, in ravines, or in a habitat like a
beech-sugar maple woods. It is reported to have been frequent in
Franklin, Noble and Wells Counties.
Its appearance and habit of growth is so much like the white elm that it
is not commonly distinguished from it, which accounts for the lack of
definite knowledge of its range in our area.
[Illustration: Plate 59.