Ulmus glabra – Wych Elm

General Information Common Name  Wych Elm Scientific Name  Ulmus glabra Sun Tolerance  Full Sun Height  up to 40 m (up to 130 ft) Spread  up to 20 m (up to 63 ft) Growth Rate  Fast Bloom Time  Spring Color  Green, Flower Color  Pink Type  Tree Native  Asia,  Europe, USA

Classification Kingdom  Plantae – Plants Subkingdom  Tracheobionta – Vascular plants Superdivision Spermatophyta – Seed plants Division  Magnoliophyta - Flowering Plants Class  Magnoliopsida - Dicotyledons Subclass  Hamamelididae Order  Urticales Family  Ulmaceae – Elm family Genus  Ulmus L. – Elm  Species  U. glabra

Ulmus glabra – Wych Elm

Ulmus glabra commonly known as Wych Elm also known as ScotsElm is native to Europe and North America. It grows up to 40 m (130 ft) in height.

It is quite a different tree from the English Elm found in hedgerows, being at home in the woods, though seldom if ever cultivated by foresters, and has a dome-like crown built around a forked trunk, with branches spreading and often pendulous towards their ends. Unlike English Elm, neither corky shoots nor suckers are normally present, and reproduction is by seed.

The brownish-grey twigs are stouter than those of the English Elm, and the young shoots grow practically at right angles to the branches. At first they are thickly covered by short hairs, but by their third year are smooth – hence the epithet glabra. The winter buds are chocolate brown, sharply pointed, with hairy scales. The leaves are larger than those of the English Elm, and have a shorter stalk. They are uneven at the base (asymmetrical), so that one side usually forms an ‘ear’ overlapping the stalk. The margins are sharply serrated and the blade broadens towards the tip, and then suddenly narrows, the apex being drawn to a point. The upper surface is rough to the touch because of minute but harsh hairs.

The clusters of bi-sexual precocious flowers are purplish-crimson, and in mass give a reddish tinge to the whole crown when they appear on the leafless twigs during late February of March. The green transparent winged seeds (samaras) are somewhat larger than those of the English Elm. They are fully formed in about three weeks (again before the leaves) and ripen by May or early June. They cling festooned when they turn brown and then fall.

On young trees the bark is smooth and green. On older trees it is brown, thick and rough in more continuous ridges, more deeply furrowed than that of the English Elm and much more coarsely networked. The word ‘wych’ means supply, and the pliable strength of the wood has led to its use in boat and carriage-building, as shafts and tool handles, as well as for furniture.

Leaves of Wych Elm

Leaves of Ulmus glabra 

Wych Elm Leaves

 Pods of Wych Elm Flowers

Flowers of Wych Elm

Flowers of Ulmus glabra 

Ulmus glabra – Wych Elm Flower

Seeds of Wych Elm

Seeds of Ulmus glabra 

Bark of Wych Elm

Trunks of Wych Elm

 Wych Elm as Ornamental Tree

Wych Elm Special Trunk

Wych Elm

Video of Wych Elm: