Identifying Characteristics
| Size/Form: | American elm is a large tree that reaches heights of 120 feet. The bole is buttressed with prominent root flares. The drooping branches fan out creating an umbrella-shaped crown. |
| Bark: | A young tree has dark grayish-brown outer bark, buff inner bark, and shallow intersecting elliptical to diamond-shaped fissures. As the tree matures the bark becomes ash-gray and scaly. |
| Twigs: | The twigs are slender, reddish-brown to dark brown, and glabrous or sparsely pubescent. |
| Leaves: | The leaves are simple, alternately arranged, and deciduous. The leaves are 3 to 6 inches long and 2 to 3 inches wide. The leaves are obovate with a very inequilateral base looking like someone took a bite out of one side. The leaves taper to an acute apex. The leaf surface is dark green and smooth above while paler and pubescent (or rarely glabrous) below. The leaf margin is coarsely doubly serrate. The color changes to yellow in autumn. Petioles are short and stout, about ¼ inch long. |
| Flowers: | The flowers of this tree are perfect and without petals, in clusters on long stalks. They appear in early spring and are not very noticeable. |
| Fruit: | The samara contains a single, flattened seed surrounded by a narrow wing that is green or sometimes orange-red in color. The seeds are oval to oblong, about ½ inch long. The wings are deeply notched at the tip. Margins have dense white pubescence along the wing. |
Similar Trees on the Florida 4-H Forest Ecology Contest List:
|
|