Low-growing elm

Family Ulmaceae. Occurs wild in Transbaikalia, the central and southern parts of the Far East, in northern Mongolia, in Korea and Japan.

A small tree up to 15 m tall, or a shrub with a dense, rounded crown and thin branches. Young shoots hairy. Small elliptic leaves 2-7 cm long, leathery, slightly unequal-sided, with a short acute apex and a simply or doubly serrate margin, smooth, hairy when young. In spring the leaves are green, paler beneath; in summer - dark green; in autumn - olive-yellow. Flowers are gathered in small clusters. The samaras are yellow-brown or ochre.

Light-loving, frost-hardy, undemanding with respect to soil fertility and moisture content. Drought-tolerant, tolerates transplantation, pruning, shaping and urban conditions well. Highly valued for landscape planting in the arid regions of Russia. In growth rate it is not inferior to white acacia and the ash-leaved maple, while being more frost-hardy, and tolerates pruning and transplantation well. A positive quality of this species is the absence of root suckers, which is highly valued in park and garden design. Good for rapid greening of new developments, in street plantings, and clipped hedges. In cultivation since 1860. Has a weeping (f. pendula) form.

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