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Botanical Name: Ulmus americana Disease Resistant Variety
Common Name: American Elm
Origin: E. North America
Location: CNW
Notable Feature: Although once widely planted as a street and lawn tree, American elm populations have been so decimated by Dutch elm disease that this tree is no longer considered to be a viable selection for landscape uses.
Habit: A majestic, deciduous tree with 3 distinct growing habits. A vase-shaped form with upright and then widely spreading branches and often with pendulous branchlets; an oak form with more widely spreading and less arching branching; and a narrow form with branchlets clothing the entire trunk giving an upright appearance. The trunk is usually divided into several large, ascending and arching limbs. Mature size: 60 to 80 feet high and 40 to 70 feet wide.
Flower: Perfect (bisexual) flowers are greenish red, apetalous, and occur in drooping clusters of 3 to 5. Appear in March before the leaf buds open.
Fruit: Rounded and notched, disc-shaped samara, ½” long, in May/June.
Foliage: Large, leathery, dark green leaves with variable yellow coloration in the fall. Leaves are 3 to 6” long by 1 to 3” wide and doubly serrated along the margins.
Interesting Fact: Before the Dutch Elm Disease killed almost all the American Elms in the USA, it was a popular street tree especially in New England. Several disease-resistant varieties have been developed among which it is believed that the four Crosslands trees are the ‘Princeton’ variety.