Elm
Elm 43 and again the glistening green huckleberry leaves or the tiny flowers in the grass, thus happily and quietly we rode along until we came to Trenton and were greeted by the alarming intelligence that the Yankee gunboats were a short distance below Monroe.”4 Major James A. Connolly, 123rd Illinois Infantry, writing to his wife on April 26, 1864, from camp in Ringgold, Georgia: “The forest trees are putting out leaves and the woods begin to look green; flowers bespangle the green carpet of the valleys, and the white dogwood blossoms are hung in clusters of beauty on the bright green drapery of the mountain side.”5 British journalist William H. Russell at Wilmington, North Carolina, on April 15, 1861: “White blossoms of dogwood & magnolias beautiful in forests wh. ring with mocking birds, pines everywhere.”6 Private Richard H. Brooks, 51st Georgia Infantry, in a letter to his wife from Fredericksburg, Virginia, on May 14, 1863: “The Spring is open hear now the Peach trees is all in full bloom an the dog woods are in bloom an all the bushes are buding out nice it makes me think of home.”7 Southern refugee Kate Stone in Lamar County, Texas, on July 12, 1863: “The prairie we are living on is called a thicket prairie. There are clumps of dwarf dogwood, spice trees, and plums, tangled together with wild grape and other vines and alive with snakes.”8 E l m Elms (Ulmus spp.) moved the heavy loads of the Civil War. The hard, dense wood was sought because it was “the best wood we have for blocks” in block and tackle rigging used to mount mortars, unload cargo, and hoist sails. Wheel hubs made of elm supported the carriages of cannons and six-mule wagons that carried three thousand pounds of supplies. The half-dozen species of elm in the East were also used in the manufacture of lumber, saddle-trees, ships, tool handles, baskets, chair bottoms, flooring, railroad ties, dye, and woodenware. Rope was made from the inner bark of winged elm (U. alata) and used in bagging cotton. Medicine was con- 44 Flora cocted from slippery elm (U. rubra) bark in the form of soothing, jelly-like poultices to treat gunshot wounds and syphilis sores.1 We elms of Malvern Hill Remember every thing; But sap the twig will fill; Wag the world how it will, Leaves must be green in spring. —Herman Melville Melville’s elms survived the ravages of an epic war, but the continued existence of this species now valued as graceful shade trees depends on another battle, this one with a fungus known as Dutch elm disease. Felix Poche with CSA Brigadier General Henry Gray’s Brigade near Washington, Louisiana, on Sept. 24, 1863: “I spent the whole day at the house, and was quite unwell, still from the bowels. I took some Slippery Elm tea, and it did me some good.”2 Gideon Lincecum, seventy-year-old naturalist, in a letter to a friend from Washington Co., Texas, on March 26, 1863: “To color drab and light reds, the ley [lye] of some strong ashes is the proper mordant and it is applied after the goods have been boiled sufficiently in the coloring matter. . . . The brightest red I have produced on cotton was done with the red elm bark, the wild peach bark next; the goods being washed in ley after thoroughly boiling them in a strong decoction of the bark.”3 G r a p e Grapes (Vitis spp.) are woody vines that climb with tendrils in search of sunlight. About twenty species of native grapes are found in the eastern United States in a variety of habitats. The well-known fruits of grapes have been consumed by humans for thousands of years and are also important wildlife foods. Fifty-seven species of songbirds have been reported to eat wild grapes as well as bear, coyote, fox, rabbit, raccoon, skunk, squirrel, deer, and catfish.1 Muscadine grapes (V. rotundifolia), also known as scuppernong , grow throughout the Southeast and are popular for their large size and taste in wine and jellies. More than three hundred cultivars of this species have been developed in recent years. Modern research indi- ...
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