ulmus

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. A genus of trees, the elms, type of tribe Ulmeæ in the order Urticaceæ. It is characterized by a stalked fruit surrounded with a broad wing, and containing flat cotyledons. There are about 16 species, widely scattered through the north temperate regions, extending in Asia to mountains within the tropics. They bear alternate serrate two-ranked feather-veined leaves on slender and often recurving branches which form a graceful flat spray. The flower-clusters contain numerous small apetalous flowers, almost all perfect or mainly staminate, in 4 North American species preceding the leaves, and followed by disklike notched and veiny samaras, which fall as the leaves expand. (See cut under samara.) Several other species are evergreen and late-flowering, as U. parvifolia of China and Japan. Five species occur in the United States (for which see elm, slippery-elm, rock-elm, and wahoo). Three species occur in Europe, all of them extending into Asia—U. campestris, the common Old World elm (see cut under elm), parent of very numerous cultivated varieties; U. effusa (U. pedunculata), the water-elm of central Europe; and U. montana, the wych-elm, the only one thought to be native to Great Britain. U. Americana, U. effusa, and also U. Wallichiana, the Himalayan elm, sometimes reach a very large size, from 90 to 100 feet high, and 7 to 8 feet in diameter. U. pumila, the dwarf elm of Siberia, a very low shrub, forms the other extreme of the genus. U. effusa, the common village elm of Prussia, is peculiar in forming sharp ribs about its base in old age, which serve as natural buttresses.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. (Bot.) A genus of trees including the elm.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. type genus of family Ulmaceae; deciduous trees having simple serrate leaves; widely distributed in temperate regions