Maine,--not reported; New Hampshire,--rare and extremely local; Meriden and one or two other places (Jessup); Vermont,--rare, Bennington, Pownal (Robbins), Knowlton (Brainerd), Highgate (Eggleston); comparatively abundant in Champlain valley and westward (T. H. Haskins, _Garden and Forest_, V, 86); Massachusetts,--rare; Rhode Island and Connecticut,--not reported native. South to Tennessee; west to Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska and Missouri. =Habit.=--A large tree, scarcely inferior at its best to _U. Americana_, 50-75 feet high, with a trunk diameter of 2-3 feet; reaching in southern Michigan a height of 100 feet and a diameter of 5 feet; trunk rather slender; branches short and stout, often twiggy in the interior of the tree; branchlets slender, spreading, sometimes with a drooping tendency; head rather narrow, round-topped. =Bark.=--Bark of trunk brownish-gray, in old trees irregularly separated into deep, wide, flat-topped ridges; branches grayish-brown; leaf-scars conspicuous; season's shoots light brown, more or less pubescent or glabrous, oblong-dotted; branches and branchlets often marked lengthwise with corky, wing-like ridges. =Winter Buds and Leaves.=--Buds ovate to oblong, pointed, scales downy-ciliate, pubescent. Leaves simple, alternate, 3-4 inches long, half as wide, glabrous above, minutely pubescent beneath; outline ovate, doubly serrate (less sharp than the serratures in _U. Americana_); apex acuminate; base inequilateral, produced and rounded on one side, acute or slightly rounded on the other; veins straight; leafstalk short, stout; stipules soon falling. =Inflorescence.=--April to May. Appearing before the leaves from lateral buds of the preceding season, in drooping racemes; calyx lobes 7-8, broad-triangular, with rounded edges and a mostly obtuse apex: pedicels thread-like, jointed; stamens 5-10, exserted, anthers purple, ovary 2-styled: stigmas recurved or spreading. =Fruit.=--Samara ovate, broadly oval, or obovate, pubescent, margin densely fringed, resembling fruit of _U. Americana_ but somewhat larger. =Horticultural Value.=--Hardy throughout New England; prefers a moist, rich soil, in open situations; less variable in habit than the American elm and a smaller tree with smaller foliage, scarcely varying enough to justify its extensive use as a substitute. Not often obtainable in nurseries, but readily transplanted, and easily propagated from the seed. [Illustration: PLATE L.--Ulmus racemosa.] 1. Winter buds, at the time the flowers open. 2. Flowering branch. 3. Flower, side view. 4. Flower, side view, perianth and stamens partly removed. 5. Fruiting branch. CELTIS OCCIDENTALIS, L. HACKBERRY. NETTLE TREE. HOOP ASH. SUGAR BERRY. =Habitat and Range.=--In divers situations and soils; woods, river banks, near salt marshes. Province of Quebec to Lake of the Woods, occasional.