Elm

Where it grows

The field or smooth-leaved elm is native to most of Europe and western Asia. Together with English elm and wych elm, it dominated the hedgerows of lowland Britain and the avenues of European and American cities through the 19th and early 20th century. Today its range is heavily fragmented by disease.

How to recognise it

Elm leaves are typically asymmetrical at the base — one side joins the stalk slightly further down than the other — with sharply toothed margins and a rough surface. The clusters of greenish flowers open before the leaves and produce flat, papery, disc-shaped samaras. Mature trees grow into broad fountain-shaped crowns.

Uses

Elm heartwood is interlocked-grained and resistant to splitting, traditionally used for wheel hubs, the seats of Windsor chairs, water pipes (laid hollowed under London for centuries), and coffins because it does not split when nailed and resists rot underground.

Conservation

Dutch elm disease — a fungal pathogen spread by bark beetles — has killed hundreds of millions of mature elms across Europe and North America since the 1960s. Resistant cultivars and dedicated breeding programmes are slowly returning elms to streets and reserves.