Botanical name:                  Ulmus procera

Family:                                   Ulmaceae

Common Name:                   English Elm

Habitat and Distribution

A British native, almost invariably found as a hedgerow tree, or in small copses where hedgerows meet. Now seldom seen due to the ravages of Dutch Elm Disease in the 1960s. The tree is also planted in north-eastern United States.

Elms like a nutrient rich soil, they can thrive on raw chalk and can stand coastal exposure.

Description

A deciduous tree to about 30 metres (100 ft) and can attain a thickness of over 2 metres.

A conical crown of ascending branches rise above a straight and massive bole, often swollen with burrs and clothed with suckers. Short-pointed, doubly toothed, ovate or rounded leaves are dark green and rough to the touch. Flowers are profuse, tiny tuffs of red stamens opening in February or March. The fruits are rarely produced but would set in April/May, they are flat with the seed near the tip. Suckers are produced freely to form new trees. The bark is dark brown and cracked into small rectangular plates.

Many localized forms occur in different parts of Britain.

Timber

Since the outbreak of Dutch Elm Disease in the 1960s, the cultivation of elm as a furniture timber is in danger of becoming a matter of history. Few elms now survive; it is being replanted in Scotland in areas largely free from disease (the Bark beetles which spread the disease prefer warm dry weather) but, elsewhere, few foresters have the confidence to grow it. Research into resistant cultivars continues.

The pale, dull brown, course textured timber has distinct annual rings and often a “partridge-breast” figure. It is hard and resists wetting and splitting.

Location within the arboretum:

A single specimen is located at the southern end of the Furniture Makers Walk, near the turreted wall. It does not have the normal Furniture Makers green sign.

Furniture Makers Trees at The Arboretum - Kew at Castle Howard

Uses

The timber has traditionally been used for coffin boards, fine cabinet work, chair and settee frames, bentwood chair backs, Windsor chairs and for turning.

Exquisitely figured Burr elm is used as veneers, inlays, carving and turning.

 

Late October 2005

A confusion of leaves

The underside of a leaf

Mature trees in winter

Bark

Flowers

Clear elm

Polished burr elm

Untreated burr elm

Elm veneers

Elm Windsor chair

Modern elm rocking chair

Antique 18th century server

English gate-leg table with burr elm top and walnut base, circa 1700

Modern English elm coffee table

Burr elm bowls

Burr elm table lamp

Apple turned from burr elm