Description
The Wych elm sometimes reaches heights of 40 m, typically with a broad crown where open-grown, supported by a short bole < 2 m. d.b.h. There are not normally root suckers; natural reproduction is by seed alone. The tree is notable for its very tough, supple young shoots, which are always without the corky ridges or 'wings' characteristic of many elms. The alternate leaves are deciduous, 6–17 cm long and 3–12 cm broad, usually obovate with an asymmetric base, the lobe often completely covering the short petiole; the upper surface is rough. Leaves on juvenile shoots sometimes have three or more lobes near the apex. The hermaphrodite flowers appear before the leaves in early spring, produced in clusters of 10-20; they are 4 mm across on 10 mm long stems and, being wind-pollinated, are apetalous. The fruit is a winged samara 20 mm long and 15 mm broad, with a single, round, 6 mm seed in the centre, maturing in late spring.
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Wych elm leaf and one-Euro coin
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Young foliage and seeds of Wych elm
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Wych elm leaves with extra lobes
Read more about this topic: Ulmus Glabra
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“The next Augustan age will dawn on the other side of the Atlantic. There will, perhaps, be a Thucydides at Boston, a Xenophon at New York, and, in time, a Virgil at Mexico, and a Newton at Peru. At last, some curious traveller from Lima will visit England and give a description of the ruins of St. Paul’s, like the editions of Balbec and Palmyra.”
—Horace Walpole (1717–1797)
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