Ulmus minor facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Ulmus minor
A field elm tree in Blismes, France.
Conservation status
Data Deficient (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Genus:	Ulmus
Species:	minor
Where the field elm grows naturally

The field elm, also known by its scientific name Ulmus minor Mill., is a type of elm tree. It's one of the most varied elm species found in Europe. You can mostly find it growing naturally in southern Europe, stretching all the way to Asia Minor and Iran. Its northernmost spots are on the Baltic islands of Öland and Gotland, though people might have brought it there.

This tree usually lives in low-lying forests near big rivers. It often grows alongside oak and ash trees. It's tough and can handle both summer floods and dry periods. Experts have found many different types of field elm across Europe. For example, some have small leaves, others have narrow leaves, and some have very hairy leaves.

For a long time, scientists debated how to classify the different types of field elms, especially in Britain. Some thought they were all one species with many variations, while others believed there were several distinct species. Thanks to modern DNA testing, we now know that many of these different-looking British elms are actually just single clones. This means they are genetically identical copies of one original field elm tree, spread by roots or cuttings. This helps confirm that many of these varied forms are indeed part of the Ulmus minor species.

What does the field elm look like?

This tree typically grows up to about 30 meters (98 feet) tall and has a round top, like a big green ball.

• Bark: The bark on older trees is rough and has light grooves that form a blocky pattern. Younger branches sometimes have interesting corky "wings" on them.
• Shoots: The new shoots are thin compared to other elm species like the wych elm.
• Leaves: The leaves are generally smaller than those of other European elms, which is why its scientific name includes minor (meaning "smaller"). However, their size and shape can change a lot depending on how old the tree is. Leaves on young parts of the tree (like new sprouts from roots) are rough and fuzzy. Leaves on older, mature branches are usually smooth, but their shape can still vary a lot. They usually have fewer than 12 pairs of side veins. If you look closely with a magnifying glass, you might see tiny black glands along the leaf veins.
• Seeds: The seeds are inside small, flat, oval or egg-shaped "wings" called samarae. These are about 12 to 15 millimeters (about half an inch) long, smooth, and have a notch at the top. The seed itself is very close to this notch. In France, field elms usually start to flower and produce seeds when they are about 10 years old.

The field elm can easily grow new trees from its roots or from old stumps, even after being badly damaged by Dutch elm disease. Because of this, scientists don't think its genes are in danger of disappearing.

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  A typical field elm tree in East Coker, UK (2008)

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  Field elm flowers

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  Field elm seeds (samarae)

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  Young field elm plants (seedlings)

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  Field elm leaves

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  A field elm leaf next to a 1 Euro coin for size

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  New shoots growing from the roots of a field elm

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  The bark of a field elm in Stapleford, UK

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  The bark of a field elm in Bulgaria

Diseases and pests

The field elm reacts very differently to Dutch elm disease. Some trees get very sick, while others show more resistance. For example, in Italy, some trees showed 15% to 100% dieback (parts of the tree dying), and 70% to 100% wilting. In Spain, the dieback ranged from 5% to 100%, and wilting from 20% to 95%. In 2013, scientists in Spain found and cloned some field elm trees that were even more resistant to the disease than a well-known resistant elm called 'Sapporo Autumn Gold'.

Field elms are generally good at tolerating another disease called elm yellows. This disease causes symptoms like "witch's broom" (many small, weak branches growing in a cluster), but this only happens sometimes in Italy. However, in France, including Paris, this disease was often common among field elms.

Growing field elms

Field elms and many of their specific types were once very popular trees planted across Europe, both in cities and in the countryside. But because they are so vulnerable to Dutch elm disease, you don't see them planted as much anymore.

However, since the 1990s, scientists in the European Union have been testing thousands of surviving field elms to find trees that are naturally resistant to the disease. The goal is to bring the field elm back into common use. For example, in Spain, results from 2013 showed that a very small number of surviving field elms (about 0.5% of those tested) have a good level of tolerance to the disease. Scientists hope that by carefully breeding the best of these resistant trees, they can create new, strong Ulmus minor hybrids for planting.

In the UK, even though some types of continental field elm grow their leaves late in the spring and tend to send up many shoots from their roots, they were sometimes planted as decorative trees in towns. Field elm seeds have also been brought to the UK from Italy. There are still mature field elms in Edinburgh that are not the common types, showing their resilience.

The field elm has also been introduced to other parts of the world, like Australia, New Zealand, and Argentina.

Famous old field elms

Field elms can live for a very long time!

• An ancient field elm stood in the village square of Metaxades, Greece, until recently. Villagers say that when they moved their village in 1286 after a disease outbreak, they settled where a young elm was growing by a spring. This tree and the fountain were central to the village for centuries.
• The tallest field elms ever recorded in Greece were two trees planted in 1650 near a church in Omali Voiou. Even though they grew in open areas, they reached an amazing height of 40 meters (131 feet) by the mid-1900s.
• In Thessaly, Greece, a very old elm tree, considered a "Monument of Nature," lost its top in a storm in 2009 but is now growing back strongly.
• A rare example of a centuries-old field elm that still has its healthy inner wood and full top is a 360-year-old tree in Strinylas, Corfu.
• In Sliven, Bulgaria, a tree said to be 200 cm (about 6.5 feet) wide still stands today (as of 2013). Other very old elms are said to be in the village of Samuilovo.
• In France, a tree believed to be over 650 years old in Biscarrosse died from Dutch elm disease in 2010. Another very old tree with a 6-meter (20-foot) wide trunk survives in Bettange, France, supposedly planted in 1593.
• In Villesèquelande, France, there's a "magnificent tree supported by three metal props" called 'l'ormeau de Sully'. It's said to have been planted in the early 1600s.
• In Mergozzo, Italy, a roughly 400-year-old tree with a 5.55-meter (18-foot) wide trunk grows. Like some French elms, it's hollow inside from age, but its life is extended by careful pruning.
• In Navajas, Spain, an elm in the Plaza del Olmo is 6.3 meters (20.6 feet) wide. Planted in 1636, it's even featured on the town's crest!
• In England, large field elms were once common in the eastern parts before Dutch elm disease arrived. The biggest recorded tree in the UK was in Amwell, measuring 40 meters (131 feet) tall and 228 cm (7.5 feet) wide in 1911. The largest known surviving trees in England are in East Coker (30 meters tall, 95 cm wide), Termitts Farm near Hatfield Peverel (25 meters tall, 145 cm wide), and Melchbourne (147 cm wide).

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  A field elm in Biscarrosse, France, which died in 2010

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  A field elm in Villeseque-lande, France, planted in the 17th century.

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  A field elm in Oschiri, Sardinia, Italy

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  Another view of the field elm in Oschiri, Sardinia, Italy

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  A field elm in Cambil, Spain (2012)

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  A field elm in Navajas, Spain (2010)

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  The same field elm in Navajas, Spain (2017)

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  A field elm in Fox-Amphoux, France, 2017

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  A field elm in Riverside Park, Yass, New South Wales

Different types of field elm

Scientists have given different names to various forms of field elm found in different places.

In England

The name Ulmus minor subsp. minor was used for field elms in England that weren't specific types like English elm, Cornish elm, Plot elm, or Guernsey elm. However, many still just use "Ulmus minor" for all field elms. Some experts, like Richens, even included English elm as a variety of field elm.

In Europe and Asia

• The 'Mediterranean Elm' (Ulmus nitens var. italica) was identified by its 14 to 18 pairs of leaf-veins and found in Italy, Spain, Portugal, and Algeria.
• U. canescens is found across the eastern Mediterranean, including Israel. It's known for its leaves, which are very fuzzy on the underside when they are mature.
• The 'Cork-barked elm' (U. minor var. suberosa) has corky bark. Experts now think this is just a natural variation of the field elm, not a separate type.

Cultivated varieties (Cultivars)

Many specific types of field elm have been grown by people since the 1700s. However, many of these might now be extinct because of Dutch elm disease, or they might only survive as unrecognized shoots from roots. List of elm cultivars, hybrids and hybrid cultivars

Natural hybrids

The field elm's natural growing area overlaps with that of the wych elm (Ulmus glabra) in the north. They easily cross-breed to create a hybrid known as the 'Dutch elm' (Ulmus × hollandica).

In Spain and Italy, Ulmus minor has also naturally cross-bred with the Siberian elm (U. pumila), which was brought to Europe in the 1500s and has spread widely. This mixing is a concern for the conservation of the pure field elm species. The new hybrid from this cross doesn't have a formal botanical name yet, but there are cultivated forms like 'Recerta' and 'Fiorente'.

• Ulmus × hollandica
• U. minor × U. pumila

Cultivated hybrids

U. minor naturally mixes with U. glabra, creating elms in the Ulmus × hollandica group. Several specific types (cultivars) have come from this group: List of elm cultivars, hybrids and hybrid cultivars

The field elm has been important in experiments to create new hybrid trees in Europe and, to a lesser extent, in the United States. Much of the European research happened in the Netherlands until 1992. Many new hybrid types were released for sale after 1960. The first trees were developed to fight the initial Dutch elm disease outbreak after World War I. However, these early hybrids were still vulnerable to a much stronger strain of the disease that appeared in the late 1960s. More research eventually led to several trees that are very resistant to the disease, which were released after 1989.

• Arno, Clusius, Columella, Commelin, Den Haag, Fiorente, Frontier, Fuente Umbria, Groeneveld, Homestead, Lobel, Nanguen = Lutèce, Pioneer, Plantyn, Plinio, Recerta, San Zanobi, Toledo, Urban, Wanoux = Vada

Field elms in art

The elm trees near Willy Lott's Cottage and Flatford Mill in Suffolk, England, which appear in Constable's famous paintings and drawings, were identified as "smooth-leaved elm" (U. minor). However, the elms in the hedges of his Dedham Vale and East Bergholt landscape paintings were likely "East Anglian hybrid elms," which are a mix of field elm and other types, similar to those still growing there today.

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  A field elm next to Willy Lott's Cottage in Constable's The Hay Wain (1821)

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  The same elm, in Constable's Flatford Lock

Where to find field elms in collections

You can find examples of field elms in various plant collections and gardens around the world.

North America

• United States National Arboretum, Washington, D.C., US.

Europe

• Arboretum de La Petite Loiterie, Monthodon, France.
• Cambridge University Botanic Garden, University of Cambridge, UK.
• Dubrava Arboretum, Lithuania.
• Grange Farm Arboretum, Sutton St James, Spalding, Lincolnshire, UK.
• Linnaean Gardens of Uppsala, Finland.
• Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, UK.
• Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, UK.
• Sir Harold Hillier Gardens, Hampshire, UK. (Has 3 specimens from Iran, collected in 2000).
• Strona Arboretum, University of Life Sciences, Warsaw, Poland.

Australasia

• Eastwoodhill Arboretum, Gisborne, New Zealand. (Has 2 trees).

Nurseries that sell field elms

If you're looking to buy a field elm, here are some nurseries that might sell them.

North America

None known.

Europe

• Eggleston Hall Gardens, Eggleston, Barnard Castle, County Durham, UK
• Firecrest Tree & Shrub Nursery, Woodbridge, Suffolk, UK
• Lorenz von Ehren, Hamburg, Germany
• Trees & Hedges, Heathfield, East Sussex, UK
• UmbraFlor, Spello, Italy

See also

In Spanish: Olmo común para niños