Description:
– Hermaphroditic genus
– Wind-pollinated perfect flowers
– Leaves with simple, serrate margins
– Round wind-dispersed samara with chlorophyll
– Tolerant of various soils and pH levels
Taxonomy:
– 30 to 40 elm species
– Hybridization challenges in species delineation
– Oldest elm fossils date back to the Paleocene
– Critical genus in British flora
– Distantly related to cannabis and mulberries
Ecology:
– Elm propagation methods vary
– Native species propagated by seed
– Hybridization risk in seed propagation
– Vegetative reproduction for sterile elms
– Various methods like grafting and layering used
Propagation:
– Propagation methods vary by elm type
– Seed propagation entails hybridization risk
– Vegetative reproduction for sterile elms
– Various methods like grafting and layering used
– Root suckers common for European field elm
Associated organisms:
– Pouch leaf galls on wych elm
– Aphid species like Tetraneura ulmi
– Various organisms associated with elms
– Examples of galls and pests on elm leaves
– Interactions between elms and associated organisms
Elms are deciduous and semi-deciduous trees comprising the genus Ulmus in the family Ulmaceae. They are distributed over most of the Northern Hemisphere, inhabiting the temperate and tropical-montane regions of North America and Eurasia, presently ranging southward in the Middle East to Lebanon and Israel, and across the Equator in the Far East into Indonesia.
| Elm Temporal range:
| |
|---|---|
| |
| U. minor, East Coker | |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Clade: | Rosids |
| Order: | Rosales |
| Family: | Ulmaceae |
| Genus: | Ulmus L. |
| Species | |
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See | |
Elms are components of many kinds of natural forests. Moreover, during the 19th and early 20th centuries, many species and cultivars were also planted as ornamental street, garden, and park trees in Europe, North America, and parts of the Southern Hemisphere, notably Australasia. Some individual elms reached great size and age. However, in recent decades, most mature elms of European or North American origin have died from Dutch elm disease, caused by a microfungus dispersed by bark beetles. In response, disease-resistant cultivars have been developed, capable of restoring the elm to forestry and landscaping.