18 Facts About American elm

Ulmus americana, generally known as the American elm or, less commonly, as the white elm or water elm, is a species of elm native to eastern North America, naturally occurring from Nova Scotia west to Alberta and Montana, and south to Florida and central Texas.

The American elm is an extremely hardy tree that can withstand winter temperatures as low as -42 °C .

American elm occurs naturally in an assortment of habitats, most notably rich bottomlands, floodplains, stream banks, and swampy ground, although it often thrives on hillsides, uplands and other well-drained soils.

Leaves of the American elm serve as food for the larvae of a number of species of Lepidoptera .

American elm is moderately preferred for feeding and reproduction by the adult elm leaf beetle Xanthogaleruca luteola and highly preferred for feeding by the Japanese beetle Popillia japonica in the United States.

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Dutch elm disease is a fungal disease that has ravaged the American elm, causing catastrophic die-offs in cities across the range.

However, in some areas still not infested by DED, the American elm continues to thrive, notably in Florida, Alberta and British Columbia.

American elm is particularly susceptible to disease because the period of infection often coincides with the period, approximately 30 days, of rapid terminal growth when new springwood vessels are fully functional.

The American elm's seeds are largely wind-dispersed, and the tree grows quickly and begins bearing seeds at a young age.

Rows of American elm trees lining the sides of a path traversing the length of the National Mall in Washington, D C .

American elm located at the Hill-Stead Museum in Farmington, Connecticut .

Never a stranger passed the American elm but stopped, and stared, and said or thought something about it.

In 2007, AE Newhouse and F Schrodt of the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry in Syracuse reported that young transgenic American elm trees had shown reduced DED symptoms and normal mycorrhizal colonization.

American elm's wood is coarse, hard, and tough, with interlacing, contorted fibers that make it difficult to split or chop, and cause it to warp after sawing.

Later, with the advent of mechanical sawing, American elm wood was used for barrel staves, trunk-slats, and hoop-poles, and subsequently became fundamental to the manufacture of wooden automobile bodies, with the intricate fibers holding screws unusually well.

Young twigs and branchlets of the American elm have tough, fibrous bark that has been used as a tying and binding material, even for rope swings for children, and for making whips.

The American elm stood near the Senate wing of the Capitol building until 1948.

An American elm located in a parking lot directly across the street from the Alfred P Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City survived the Oklahoma City bombing on April 19,1995 that killed 168 people and destroyed the Murrah building.