tree at Mitcham, which was 6 feet 8 inches in girth, and had a spread of 60 feet ; and a tree at Kew, 40 feet in height, which no longer exists, there not being at present a single specimen there of this species. It appears to be very rare in cultivation at the present time, the only trees which we have seen being one at Liphook, and another at Hursley Park. The latter is a small unhealthy-looking tree about 20 feet high, though of considerable age. There is also a small tree at Tortworth. According to Bureau,’ this species supports at Paris the severest winters without injury ; but according to Pardé,’ it bears with difficulty severe frosts in the north of France. The seedlings which Elwes raised at Colesborne were killed by 20° of frost, and though the tree may succeed in the warmest and driest parts of the south-east of England, it seems hardly worth planting elsewhere. (A.H.)
CELTIS CAUCASICA
- Celtis caucasica, Willdenow, Sp. PI. iv. 994 (1805); Loudon, Arb. et Frut. Brit. iii. 1415 (1838); Boissier, Flora Orientalis, iv. 1156 (1879).
- Celtis australis, Brandis, Forest Flora of N.W. India, 428 (1874), and Jndian Trees, 595 (1906) (not Linnæus); Hooker, Flora Brit. India, v. 482 (1888); Gamble, Zxdian Timbers, 629 (1902).
A tree of moderate size, very similar to C. australis, of which it is possibly only a geographical form. It differs in the following characters :—Leaves ovate-lanceolate, broader in proportion to their length, and more rhomboidal, with a shorter and non- caudate acuminate apex ; upper surface glabrescent, scarcely scabrous ; lower surface with slight pubescence, confined to the nerves and midrib. Drupes yellow.’
This species, which is connected with the European species by var. cuspidata,* with long-acuminate leaves, is widely spread through the Caucasus, Persia, Afghanistan, Baluchistan, and northern India. In the Caucasus, it is associated with C. australis; but farther east the latter species is scarcely met with. In Afghanistan, according to Aitchison,® it is usually a planted tree near shrines and in graveyards; but it is quite wild along the Darban and Shendtoi rivers; and in Baluchistan, its leaves, according to Lace,® are often used, as they are in India, for feeding sheep and goats, the trees being pollarded for this purpose. It occurs in India in the north-west Himalaya, as far east as Nepaul ascending to 8000 feet, where it is a common tree, wild in the forests, and around villages. According to Webber,” in Gorakhpur, it reverses the season of casting its leaves, which wither and fall off in the hot weather, and it flowers in the early months of the cold season. The wood is tough and strong, and is used for oars, tool-handles, sticks, and other purposes requiring toughness and elasticity.
This species, though mentioned by Loudon, was not in cultivation in England in his day; and Schneider® doubts if it has yet been introduced on the Continent.
1 Nouv. Arch. Mus. Hist. Nat, vi. 181 (1894).
2 Arb. Nat. Des Barres, 242 (1906).
3 Brandis mentions a variety with purplish-black fruit.
4 Planchon, in DC. Prod. xvii., 170 (1873).
5 Journ. Linn. Soc. (Bot.) xviii. 93 (1880).
6 Ibid. xxviii. 305 (1891).
7 Forests of Upper India, 232 (1902).
8 Laubholzkunde, 231 (1904).
