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Ulmus laevis
Also called Eurasian elm, Russian Elm, Water Elm, Fluttering Elm
European white elm is a large deciduous tree from Europe and western Asia, rare in the UK, that grows best in moist riverside soils and is short-lived in dry ground. Give it moist, slightly acidic soil and shelter from wind, as young trees are easily damaged.
Ulmus laevis Pall., variously known as the European white elm, fluttering elm, spreading elm, stately elm and, in the United States, the Russian elm, is a large deciduous tree native to Europe, from France northeast to southern Finland, east beyond the Urals into Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan, and southeast to Bulgaria and the Crimea; there are also disjunct populations in the Caucasus and Spain, the latter now considered a relict population rather than an introduction by man, and possibly the origin of the European population. U. laevis is rare in the UK, although its random distribution, together with the absence of any record of its introduction, has led at least one British authority to consider it native. NB: The epithet 'white' elm commonly used by British foresters alluded to the timber of the wych elm.
U. laevis is essentially a riparian tree, able to withstand over 100 days of continual flooding, although it is intolerant of saline conditions [11] Spanish trees were found to be calcifuge, preferring slightly acid, siliceous soils, and also drought-intolerant, their xylem vessels prone to drought-stress cavitation. In England, the tree failed to prosper in chalk stream valleys, where the soil was predominantly black peat, named 'Adventurers' for the Adventurers' Land SSSI in Cambridgeshire, owing to dehydration in summer. Trees planted in dry ground are notoriously short-lived.
U. laevis is comparatively weak-wooded, much more so than field elm Ulmus minor, and thus an inappropriate choice for exposed locations. In trials in southern England by Butterfly Conservation, young trees of <5 m height were badly damaged by wind gusts of 40 knots (75 km/h) in midsummer storms.
In Finland, young European white elm trees were traditionally grown for the raw material of shaft bows. It's leathery bark was also used in tough bindings.
Winged elm · American elm · Ulmus 'Androssowii' · Cedar elm · Wych Elm · Ulmus lanceifolia · Ulmus minor 'Plotii' · Chinese elm · Siberian elm · Slippery elm · Rock elm · Elm
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Ulmus laevis by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
