- LEAVES: decidious, simple, alternate, blades oblong, often symmetrical, apex acute to slightly acuminate, base oblique or cardate, 1 1/2 - 3 1/2" long, margins doubly serrate; upper surface smooth to scabrous; lower surfaces soft and hairy; dark green, turning yellow in autumn.
- TWIGS: slender, second year or older twigs usually form corky ridges of two sides, grayish brown to reddish brown, pubescent when young, glabrous with age, lenticals minute, orange; terminal buds absent; lateral buds ovoid, acuter, about 1/8 inch long; leaf scars elevated by a corky layer, semicircular, positioned to side of bud; three budle scars.
- BARK: light brown to gray, with narrow, shallow fissures producing irregular, scaly ridges.
- FLOWERS: perfect; petals lacking, calyx brownish - green; in pendulous racemes; appearing before leaf emergence in Febuary - March.
- FRUIT: about 1/3" long, elliptical deeply notched at the apex; maturing March - April as the leaves appear.
Geography:
Winged elms are found occasionally along streams and floodplains, even wet areas, but is more common on drier, upland, or rocky soils. It frequently invades old fields, and is usually a minor decidious forest component.
Natural History:
During the mid - 20th century the Dutch elm disease, caused by the fungus Ceratocystis ulmi, destoryed population of various elm species in Norht America and Europe. All native American elm species are susceptible, particularly the American elm. These elms, many of which had been planted in large numbers along city streets, have been virtually eliminated by this disease. The English elm has also been affected in epidemic propation bt the Dutch elm disease. One solution to the problem has been to breed new varieties of elms that are resistant to the fungus. The Siberian elm is a species that is naturally resistant.
References:
1. Native Trees of Georgia
Georgia Foresty Commision
By. G. Norman Bishop and George F. Peabody
John W. Mixon - director
Copyright - April 1990
2. Trees, Shrubs, and Woody Vines of Northern Flordia and Adjacent Georgia and Alabama
By. Robert K. Godfrey
Illustrations by. Melanie Dorst
The University of Georgia Press
Copyright 1988
3. Trees of Georgia and Adjacent States
By. Claud L. Brown and L. Katherine Kirkman
Timber Press
Copyright 1990
4. Plant Classification
By. Lyman Benson
D.C. Heath and Company
Copyright 1957
5. Academic American Encyclopedia
Grolier Incorporated
Copyright 1996