15 Facts About Elm

1.

Elm leaves are alternate, with simple, single- or, most commonly, doubly serrate margins, usually asymmetric at the base and acuminate at the apex.

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2.

Since the Siberian Elm is drought-tolerant, in dry countries new varieties of elm are often root-grafted on this species.

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3.

Elm phloem necrosis is a disease of elm trees that is spread by leafhoppers or by root grafts.

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4.

The National Elm Trial in North America, begun in 2005, is a nationwide trial to assess strengths and weaknesses of the 19 leading cultivars raised in the US over a ten-year period; European cultivars have been excluded.

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5.

Elm wood is valued for its interlocking grain, and consequent resistance to splitting, with significant uses in wagon wheel hubs, chair seats and coffins.

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6.

Elm is prized by bowyers; of the ancient bows found in Europe, a large portion are elm.

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7.

Elm wood is resistant to decay when permanently wet, and hollowed trunks were widely used as water pipes during the medieval period in Europe.

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8.

Elm was used as piers in the construction of the original London Bridge.

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9.

Elm bark, cut into strips and boiled, sustained much of the rural population of Norway during the great famine of 1812.

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10.

Elm has been listed as one of the 38 substances that are used to prepare Bach flower remedies, a kind of alternative medicine.

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11.

Elm occurs frequently in English literature, one of the best known instances being in Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, where Titania, Queen of the Fairies, addresses her beloved Nick Bottom using an elm-simile.

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12.

An Elm Tree and Three Sisters by Norma Sommerdorf is a children's book about three young sisters that plant a small elm tree in their backyard.

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13.

In England after the Glorious Revolution of 1688, the final victory of parliamentarians over monarchists, and the arrival from Holland, with William III and Mary II, of the 'Dutch Elm' hybrid, planting of this cultivar became a fashion among enthusiasts of the new political order.

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14.

Elm-planting by American Presidents later became something of a tradition.

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15.

Elm suckers spreading before the abandoned summer royal palace in Tatoi, Greece, ?arch 2008.

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