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139 diffused than montana. The Elms are both tall trees, but campestris usually attains a slightly greater height than montana, though the latter has a much stouter trunk. Their flowers appear before the leaves, and, although they are individually minute and inconspicuous, they are united in bundles, and the colour of the perianth and stamens renders them conspicuous. The perianth is bell-shaped, cleft into five or more lobes, reddish; the purple anthers are equal in number with the divisions of the perianth, to which their filaments are attached. The two styles are awl-shaped, their inner surfaces stigmatic. The flower-cluster is succeeded by a bunch of one-seeded samaras, winged all round. In montana the seed is placed in the centre of the samaras; in campestris it is distinctly above the centre. The leaves of montana are as large again as those of campestris, broader at the base, more inclined to be unequally heart-shaped. There are, however, many varieties of each, which make the identification of the species often very difficult.

The flowers appear in March and April, those of campestris a little earlier than the others. The name is the Latin word for the tree but probably derived from the Hebrew ul, to be strong or vigorous.

A Beech-tree growing on a chalky hill is one of the most beautiful of forest trees. It is, moreover, a tree that has left its marks upon our topography and literature, for many placenames (such as Buckingham, Buckland, Bookham) record the fact that in early times Beeches grew plentifully in the neighbourhood, and book is a survival of the period when the Runic poems were written upon slabs of Buk.

Without being at all glossy, like portions of the Birch and Cherry, the bark of the Beech is smooth, and remarkably even. If allowed to grow naturally, without the pollarding which has