English Elm
(Ulmus procera)
The one thing most people know about Elm trees is that they were wiped out in the UK when millions died from Dutch Elm Disease (DED) throughout the 1970’s and 1980’s. What many people don’t realise is that there are still many millions of Elm trees remaining in both town and country but they are less than 6m tall.
Before the onset of DED, the English Elm was one of the most imposing or our native countryside trees, growing to over 20m tall and standing either singly in groups or as lines of hedgerow trees. The grey brown bark of young twigs has a soft, corky, ribbed texture which becomes smooth as the tree ages. The trunk of elm trees begin smooth and develop a shallow, evenly ribbed texture similar to oak at maturity. The leaf buds are small, and do not extend beyond the width of the narrow twigs on which they grow. The green leaves are similar in appearance to Hazel but have a rough feel like sandpaper and the base of each leaf is asymmetrically shaped. At maturity Elm trees produce vast quantities of small round seeds but the great majority do not develop. Elms mostly reproduce by growing lots of shoots from the roots. This has meant that most of the trees in the UK are genetically identical and this is one of the reasons why they all suffer from DED.
Situation
Nowadays most elms may be found growing in abundance as hedgerow plants in both town and countryside. When young it seems the tree’s vitality manages to outgrow DED but once it reaches between 5 and 7 years old and has grown to about 6 m tall, will die back to the roots and the regeneration process begins all over again.
Season/Life cycle
| Flowers | Leaves | Fruit |
|
Spring Rose pink in early spring. But only appear as the tree matures so are little seen currently because most trees are too young to produce flowers. |
April - October From March, the rough textured green leaves have a distinct asymmetrically shaped base. |
May Clusters of small seeds produced in May. Each seed is set in the middle of a circular green ‘wing’. |
Uses
Elm wood has been traditionally used in furniture making and because it does not readily decay in water, has been used to make water troughs and piles for sea defences and coffins!. Other uses include various parts of archaic farm machinery from cow sheds to wagon wheels. Elm foliage was also used as cattle fodder.
