Talk:Wych Elm

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The wych elm is mentioned in E. M. Forster's novel "Howards End." Howards End is a place, more specifically a house, and its description in the book was based on Forster's childhood home, Rooksnest. The wych elm figures prominantly in both the house's description in the novel, and to some extent the characterisation of the protagonists, some of whom care so little about the setting (although they lived there for years) that they are not aware of the presence of pigs' teeth which the locals have embedded in the tree's bark to cure toothache. Apparently this was based on an acutal folktale, since in Forester's more detailed descripion of Rooksnest he says, "The most interesting thing in the garden was the wych-elm tree. It was of great height and had a very thick stem, but the curious part in it was this. About four feet from the ground were three or four fangs stuck deep into the rugged bark. As far as I can make out these were votive offerings of people who had their toothache cured by chewing pieces of the bark..." The account is from the appendix of the Penguin edition of "Howards End." (http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Exhibit/6747/rooksnest.html)Ayalablu 14:34, 5 March 2007 (UTC)