The wood of the planertree is lighter in weight, poorer in fuel value,
weaker, and more brittle than the poorest of the elms. The annual ring
lacks the rows of large open pores common in all the elms, but it has
many small pores scattered through the whole year’s growth. It is not
easy to note a difference between the springwood and that which grows
later. The wood is soft, light brown in color, and the nearly white
sapwood is thick. It is often, perhaps generally, a tree of fairly rapid
growth, and since it does not reach large size, it is probably
short-lived, but exact information along that line is lacking.
The tallest trees seldom exceed a height of forty feet and a diameter of
two. It is evident that a tree of that size and form does not tempt the
lumberman to much exertion to procure it. An examination of reports of
sawmill operations and of the utilization of woods by shops and
factories in the southern states has failed to find a single instance
where the planertree has been reported in use for any purpose whatever.
Doubtless, trees are sometimes cut and the lumber gets into the market,
but not under its own name. The species is interesting for reasons other
than that it ever has had or ever can have a place in the country’s
lumber industry.
WING ELM (_Ulmus alata_), which is the smallest of the elms, is
plentifully supplied with names, but in most parts of its range it
is known as wing or winged elm. It is also called wahoo or wahoo
elm, and the West Virginians have named it witch elm; the North
Carolinans refer to it often as simply elm; from Florida to Texas
some call it cork elm; in Alabama it is water elm; in Arkansas
mountain elm; while in other regions it is corky elm, small-leaf
elm, and red elm. Some of these names are self-explanatory. Wing elm
does not relate to a winged seed, but to winged twigs. That
characteristic of the tree is very prominent. The wings consist of
flattened keels along opposite sides of the branches. A twig no more
than a quarter of an inch in diameter may be decorated with wings
half an inch or more wide, making the twig four or five times as
wide as it is thick. As the twig enlarges, the wings do not broaden
in proportion. The lowest branches and those nearest the trunk are
most generously furnished with wings. They appear to be entirely
ornamental, for it is not known that they serve any useful purpose.
The growth is different from those which give cork elm its name. The
latter occur on the large branches, often in the form of isolated
protuberances, but the wings are fairly continuous for a foot or
more, except that they terminate abruptly at the nodes, but
recommence immediately after. Branches less than a year old seldom
have wings. The name wahoo appears to have lost its etymology if it
ever had any. Dictionaries tell what it means, but they shy at its
origin.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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