in botany: A genus of plants belonging to the class of pentandra, and order of digynia; and in the natural system arranged under the 3rd order, Scabridae. The calyx is quinquedent; there is no corolla. The fruit is a dry, compressed, membranaceous berry. There are three species, one of which is a native of Britain. The common elm. The leaves are rough, oval, pointed, doubly serrated, unequal at the base. Bark of the trunk cracked and wrinkled. Fruit membranous. The montana, or wych elm, is generally reckoned a variety of this species.

All the sorts of elm may be either propagated by layers or suckers taken from the roots of the old trees, the latter of which is generally practised by the nursery-gardeners; but as these are often cut up with indifferent roots, they often miscarry, and render the succulents doubtful; whereas those which are propagated by layers are in no hazard, and always make better roots, and come on faster than the other, and do not send out suckers from their roots in such plenty, for which reason this method should be more universally practised.

The elm delights in a stiff strong soil. It is observable, however, that here it grows comparatively slow. In light land, especially if it be rich, its growth is very rapid; but its wood is light, porous, and of little value, compared with that which grows upon strong land; which is of a closer stronger texture, and, at the heart, will have the colour and almost the heaviness and hardness, of iron: On such soils the elm becomes profitable, and is one of the trees which ought in preference to all others to engage the planter's attention.