Ptelea
(the ancient Greek name of the Elm, used from the time of Homer, here applied to a genus with similar fruit). ORD. Rutaceae. A genus consisting of six species of hardy, unarmed shrubs or small trees, natives of temperate North America. Flowers greenish-yellow, cymose or corymbose, polygamous; calyx short, four or five-parted, imbricated; petals four or five, much longer than the calyx, imbricated. Leaves alternate, rarely opposite, trifoliolate or pinnately five-foliolate; leaflets ovate or oblong, pellucid-dotted, entire or serrulate. The under-mentioned species--probably the only one in cultivation--thrives in any common garden soil, and is readily increased by layers.
P. trifoliata (three-leaved). Hop-tree; Swamp Dogwood, &c. fl., filaments four or five, densely villous below the middle, longer than the style in the sterile flowers, shorter in the fertile ones. May and June. l. long-stalked; leaflets oval or oblong, mostly acute, obscurely crenulated, paler beneath, the lateral ones unequal-sided. h. 4ft. to 8ft. 1704. (G. C. n. s., xiii. 369.) P. t. aurea (golden). This only differs from the type in the golden-yellow colour of the young foliage.