Hornbeam-leaved elm

Family Ulmaceae. Winter-hardy in forest-steppe and steppe zones. Young shoots may freeze. These trees are for the southern regions of Russia.

Tree up to 20 m tall, with a spreading dense crown, up to 10 m in diameter, and thin dark-brown shoots, with corky excrescences in the cork-bearing form. Leaves (12 х 7 cm) are thick, dark green, shiny, unequal-sided, variable in shape and size, glabrous above, with sparse hairs beneath. In autumn they turn bright yellow. Flowers small, reddish-brown, in globular clusters. Flowers before leaf bud burst. Fruits - obovate winged samaras up to 2 cm.

Not demanding to soil, but grows well only on moist, deep and fertile soils. Tolerates slight salinity. Gas-resistant. Endures urban conditions well. Responds well to pruning and holds artificially given forms well. Forms dense hedges. Under favorable conditions lives up to 300 years, in city conditions - most often up to 50 years. Used in gardens and parks, in groups or masses in combination with other species, in street plantings. Forms are used in the arrangement of squares, singly and in small groups; the typical form is good for dense hedges and screens. In cultivation since 1880.

The main ornamental forms differ from the typical one in crown structure, outline and leaf coloration: Webb (hooded) (f. Webbiana) - with a narrowly pyramidal crown and distinctive leaves, dark green and shiny above, ashy beneath, the leaf folded along its length into a hood, upper side inside, lower side outside; Dampieri (f. Dampieri) - with a narrowly pyramidal crown and broad-ovate leaves, deeply doubly-serrated, clustered on short shoots; Koopmann (f. Koopmannii) - an attractive tree with a dense ovate-elliptical crown; pyramidal (Cornish elm) (f. cornubiensis) - with a narrowly pyramidal crown, ascending branches and dark green, smooth above foliage, originating from southwest England; weeping (f. pendula) - with thin drooping branches; globose (f. umbraculifera) - with a dense, regular, rounded crown, with small ovate-elliptic leaves, often slightly undulate above; graceful (f. gracilis) -- similar to the globose form but with finer twigs and leaves; golden (f. аureа) - with golden leaves; Vanhoutte (f. Vanhouttei) - with yellow leaves; silver-variegated (f. аrgenteo-marginata) and broad-leaved silver-variegated (f. lаtifolia argenteo-marginata) - leaves speckled with white spots and stripes; purplish (f. purpurascens) - with small (2-3 cm) purple leaves; purple (f. purpurea) - with dark purple leaves.

'Dicksonii'. A very slow-growing medium-sized tree with leaves of bright golden-yellow color. This form is not affected by Dutch elm disease.

Wrede (f. Wredei, синоним 'Dampieri Aurea'). An erect narrow-conical or ovoid tree, slow-growing; it has broad, up to 6 cm long (however smaller than in the original species), golden-yellow leaves with a wavy margin. But they are that color only in summer; in spring they are light green. Leaves are borne on short vertical branches.

Garden forms and varieties are less winter-hardy than the main species and require sheltered positions.

Based on materials from the website www.ultradrome.narod.ru