Ulmus crassifolia Nutt.

TSO logo

Sponsor this page

For information about how you could sponsor this page, see How You Can Help

Credits

Article from Bean's Trees and Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles

Recommended citation
'Ulmus crassifolia' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/ulmus/ulmus-crassifolia/). Accessed 2024-03-28.

A tree up to 80 ft high in nature, but in cultivation in England very slow-growing and forming a round-headed small tree; young shoots clothed with fine, soft, very short down; winter buds often in pairs. Leaves ovate to oblong, obliquely rounded or slightly heart-shaped at the base, bluntish or rounded at the apex, 34 to 2 in. long, 12 to 114 in. wide, toothed (sometimes doubly), of firm rather hard texture, very harsh to the touch above, more or less downy beneath; stalk 112 to 18 in. long. Flowers produced in clusters in the leaf-axils in August and later. Samaras 13 in. long, oval, tapered at both ends, deeply notched at the top, downy all over, especially on the margin.

A native of the southern USA and northern Mexico, and said by Sargent to be the common elm tree of Texas. It was introduced to Kew through him in 1876, but grew slowly and sometimes died back in winter from the failure of the new growths to ripen. It evidently needs hotter summers than ours.