Page:TheTreesOfGreatBritainAndIreland vol04B.djvu/331

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Celtis

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In winter, the twigs are slender, tomentose. Leaf-scars crescentic, 3-dotted, on prominent pulvini. Stipule-scars linear, one on each side of each leaf- scar. Terminal bud not formed and scar present at the apex of the twig, as in C. occidentalis. Lateral buds, appressed to the twig, compressed, ovoid, acute, with 2 to 3 pairs of loose, tomentose, ciliate, imbricated scales.

No varieties of C. australis have been described ; but in the eastern part of its area there are forms connecting it with C. caucasica, which is a very closely allied species.

Celtis australis is widely distributed throughout the Mediterranean region, and extends into Asia Minor and probably farther eastward, in the Caucasus and north Persia. In France, it is common in Provence and Languedoc, where it is often cultivated as coppice, and is met with as a rare tree as far north as Poitiers and Lyons. It is usually an inhabitant of the plains and low hills, but occasionally ascends to 3000 feet in the mountains. In the north of France, it is scarcely hardy, at least when young. It occurs in Switzerland in the canton of Tessin. Farther east, its northern limit is the southern parts of Tyrol, Styria, and Hungary, whence it extends southward through the Balkan States to Greece and Crete. In Banat, Istria, and Dalmatia it often forms small woods, and ascends to 1600 feet. It is in all these regions extensively planted, and has become naturalised in many districts. It also occurs in Spain and Portugal, Sardinia, Italy, Sicily, Morocco, Algeria, and Tunis; and is said to grow in the Madeira Islands.

Celtis australis attains a great age, and trees of extraordinary size are recorded, there being one’ in the public square at Aix in Provence, estimated to be 500 years old, which is 19 feet in girth, and higher than any of the adjoining houses. There are fine specimens also in the Botanic Gardens at Montpellier, which are 10 to 12 feet in girth. Willkomm saw very large trees in the Balearic Islands, and says that enormous trees are to be seen in Istria and Dalmatia, one at Pisino being supposed to be 1000 years old.

Celtis australis produces suckers from the roots, and when cut gives good coppice shoots. In the south of France, coppice woods of this species are very valuable, as the shoots? attain about 4 inches in diameter in ten or twelve years, and are worth one to two francs each. The wood resembles much that of the ash, of which it has all the good qualities, and is used in carriage-building, and for making numerous kinds of small articles, as tool-handles, hay-forks, trenails, tent-pegs, etc. Whip handles in France are almost universally made of this wood, and are called ‘‘perpignans,” because the chief place of manufacture is at Perpignan. The foliage is given to cattle as fodder, the seed contains a sweet oil, and the bark and root yield a yellow colouring matter.

Celtis australis was introduced* in 1796, according to Loudon, who mentions a

1 Mouillefert, Traité des Arbres, ii, 1207 (1898).

2 Jolyet, Les Forêts, 226 (1901).

8 In the London Catalogue of Trees, 18 (1730), three species of Celtis are mentioned as being in cultivation in England:—
"I. Virginian Nettle Tree. Red fruit. In several gardens near London there are large trees.

II. Nettle Tree, with black fruit. European sort, is most rare in England.

III. Celtis with large yellow fruit. Has been grown in Devonshire many years, where there are some large trees, which produce ripe fruit, from which many plants have been raised ; but we know not where it came from originally.”