Smooth-Leaved Elm

Smooth-Leaved Elm 

(Ulmus campestris; often called U. carpinifolia, U. foliacea, and U. minor), a deciduous tree related to the genus Ulmus of the family Ulmaceae; it is up to 30 m tall and 1.5 m in diameter. The leaves are petiolate, whole, compact, asymmetrical, and usually bare on the top. The flowers, with a rusty red perianth, are gathered in fascicles. The tree blooms in March and April before the leaves appear. The flowers are melliferous. The fruits (winged fruit seeds) mature in May and June. The smooth-leaved elm reproduces by means of seeds, root offshoots, and root shoots from the tree stump. The tree lives up to 300 years. The young trees grow rapidly. They like plenty of light and are drought resistant but do poorly in frost. The smooth-leaved elm grows in Western Europe, Asia Minor, northernliran, and in the southern European part of the USSR and the Caucasus in mixed broad-leaved forests, particularly in silt and alluvial soils in river valleys. In the mountains it reaches a height of 1,500 m. It is grown as a forest, antierosion, and park variety. The wood of the smooth-leaved elm, especially its burrs, is used in such trades as machine construction and joinery.

A. P. SHIMANIUK