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American Elm |
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Once a very popular and
long-lived (300+ years) shade and street tree,
American Elm suffered a dramatic decline in the
1950's with the infestation of Dutch elm
disease, a fungus spread by a bark beetle. The
wood of American Elm is very hard and was a
valuable timber tree used for lumber, furniture
and veneer. The Indians once made canoes out of
American Elm trunks, and early settlers would
steam the wood so it could be bent to make
barrels and wheel hoops. It was also used for
the rockers on rocking chairs. |
Morton Arboretum accessions 604-25*1, 2 & 3, are
from grafts done 83 years ago.
| These three outstanding American
Elms display the classic vase-shape of
the species. The Morton Arboretum is one
of the largest living Ulmus collections
in the world (more than 30 species, in
addition to numerous infraspecific taxa,
hybrids, and cultivars) and has the
source of numerous elm cultivars. |
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Leaf: alternate, simple, ovate to oblong,
3 to 5 inches long, 1 to 3 inches wide,
margin coarsely and sharply doubly serrate,
base conspicuously inequilateral, upper
surface green and glabrous or slightly
scabrous, paler and downy beneath.
This native North American tree grows
quickly when young, forming a broad or
upright, vase-shaped silhouette, 80 to 100
feet high and 60 to 120 feet wide. Trunks on
older trees could reach to seven feet
across. The six-inch-long, deciduous leaves
are dark green throughout the year, fading
to yellow before dropping in fall. In early
spring, before the new leaves unfold, the
rather inconspicuous, small, green flowers
appear on pendulous stalks. These blooms are
followed by green, wafer-like seedpods which
mature soon after flowering is finished and
the seeds are quite popular with both birds
and wildlife. Trees have an extensive but
shallow root system.
American Elm in glorious yellow autumn
colors,
Morton Arboretum acc. 170-U*4, age unknown. |
When I was a
child in the 1950's, Thacker
Street in Des Plaines, Illinois,
was lined with huge Elm trees.
We walked to school shaded by
those magnificent trees; they
were so tall, their branches
overarched the street
completely. It was a wonderful
walk then, and especially in
fall when our mornings were
bathed in yellow light filtering
through the glorious butter
yellow foliage. Of course, we
gathered leaves to take into
school with us, to trace and do
rubbings with fat Crayons from
our (newly introduced) 64 packs.
But when the
school year started in 1960,
those trees were all cut down, a
victim of Dutch Elm Disease. It
was so sad, and now we walked
under blazing sun and boy, did
we miss those trees. Similar
scenarios are now playing
themselves out amongst the
lodgepole pine and ash trees of
North America.
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Buttery yellow fall foliage and an open, vase like
habit - what's not to like?
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Bark |
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Flower: Monoecious;
small, in drooping clusters of 3 to 5,
appear in early spring before leaf buds
open.
Fruit: Rounded, flat, papery, wafer-like
samaras, 3/8 to 1/2 inch across, deeply
notched at apex, hairless except for margin;
ripen in spring.
Twig: Slender, glabrous, slightly zigzag,
reddish brown; buds ovate, over 1/4 inch
long, reddish brown with darker edged
scales, often placed a little to one side of
the twig.
Bark: Dark, ashy gray, flat-topped ridges
separated by diamond-shaped fissures; outer
bark when sectioned shows distinct,
alternating, buff colored and reddish brown
patches. When young it is often quite
spongy.
Form: In the open, the trunk is usually
divided into several large, ascending and
arching limbs, ending in a maze of graceful
drooping branchlets.
--USDA Forest Service Silvics Manual
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