Ulmus glabra
Ulmaceae
broad-leaf elm, Scotch elm, wych elm
elm family
gray, smooth, furrowed with age.
smooth to deeply fissured or scaly and flaky;
sap watery.
spreading to pendulous, glabrous, branchlets lacking corky wings;
twigs ash-gray to red-brown, villous when young.
obtuse;
scales reddish brown, glabrous to marginally white-ciliate.
blade elliptic to obovate, (4-)7-14(-16) × (3-)4.5-8(-10) cm, base strongly oblique with lowermost lobe strongly overlapping, covering petiole, margins doubly serrate, apex long-acuminate to cuspidate, sometimes with 3 acuminate lobes at broad apex;
surfaces abaxially pale green, villous with woolly tufts in vein axils, adaxially dark green, strigose to scabrous, margins not ciliate.
blade: base often oblique, margins entire or serrate, crenate, or toothed;
venation pinnate to palmate-pinnate.
dense fascicles, 8-20-flowered, less than 2.5 cm, flowers and fruits not pendulous;
pedicel short, 0.4-0.8 mm, densely pubescent.
axillary, cymes, racemes, fascicles, or flowers solitary, arising from branchlets of previous season (e.g., Ulmus) or of current season (e.g., Celtis).
calyx lobed to ca. 1/2 length, lobes 4-8, reddish pubescent;
stamens 5-6, purplish;
stigmas reddish, with white pubescence.
bisexual or unisexual, staminate and pistillate on same [different] plants;
sepals persistent, (1-)5(-9), connate [distinct], imbricate or valvate;
petals absent;
stamens usually as many as calyx lobes, hypogynous, opposite calyx lobes, erect in bud;
filaments free or arising from calyx tube, distinct, curved or sigmoid in bud;
anthers 2-locular, dehiscence longitudinal;
pistils 1, 2(-3)-carpellate;
ovary 1(-2)-locular;
ovules 1 per locule, pendulous from apex of locule, anatropous or amphitropous;
styles (1-)2, distinct, receptive stigmatic area decurrent on distal inner margin of style branch.
fleshy drupes, samaras, or nutlike.
thickened, not inflated.
1;
arils absent;
endosperm absent to scanty, consisting of 1 layer of thick-walled cells;
embryo straight or curved.
hard.
light greenish brown, elliptic to obovate with blunt or rounded tip, 1.5-2.5 × 1-1.8 mm, broadly winged, pubescent only along central vein of wing, apical cleft minute, obscured by persistent, curved styles.
= 28.
Ulmus glabra
Ulmaceae
In the absence of carefully documented naturalized populations, the North American distribution of Ulmus glabra is very poorly known. The species is established locally in British Columbia and California, and probably elsewhere. It has been reported from Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, Ontario, District of Columbia, Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Pennsylvania, and Virginia.
Ulmus glabra is similar to U. rubra in leaf morphology but may be readily distinguished by its smooth bark and glabrous samaras. Some of the weeping elms found in cultivation are varieties of U. glabra. The common name wych is derived from Gallic and means "drooping."
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Genera ca. 18, species ca. 150 (4 genera, 19 species in the flora).
Plants of this family are wind-pollinated (anemophilous).
Ulmaceae are frequently divided into two subfamilies, Ulmoideae and Celtoideae; they are sometimes separated into two families, Ulmaceae and Celtidaceae (I. A. Grudzinskaya 1965). These subfamilial or familial distinctions are supported by flavonoid chemistry (D. E. Giannasi and K. J. Niklas 1977; D. E. Giannasi 1978), pollen morphology (M. Zavada 1983), and some anatomic structures (E. M. Sweitzer 1971). Typically the Ulmoideae have flavonols, strictly pinnately veined leaves, and dry fruits; the Celtoideae have glycoflavones, pinnipalmately veined leaves, and drupaceous fruits. Some genera (e.g., Zelkova, with pinnately veined leaves and drupaceous fruits) are intermediate, and various authors place them in different subfamilies.
In this treatment Ulmus and Planera are considered part of the subfamily Ulmoideae; Celtis and Trema are in subfamily Celtoideae. Zelkova serrata is widely cultivated as an ornamental tree in North America, but it is not known to be naturalized in the flora. Chemical similarities between subfamilies include the presence of proanthocyanins with some tannins and scattered mucilaginous cells or canals. Additionally, members of the family share a strong tendency toward mineralization of the cell walls with calcium carbonate or silica and possess solitary or clustered crystals of calcium oxalate.
Ulmaceae include trees and shrubs of horticultural importance.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
1. Leaf blade pinnately veined; fruits dry, nutlike or samaras. | → 2 |
1. Leaf blade palmately veined at base, pinnately veined over remainder of blade; fruits drupes. | → 3 |
2. Flowers bisexual; fruits samaras. | Ulmus |
2. Flowers normally unisexual, inflorescences usually with a few bisexual flowers; fruits nutlike. | Planera |
3. Leaf blade entire or serrate to ca. 3/4 length; flowers solitary or in few-flowered clusters; drupes 1. | Celtis |
3. Leaf blade crenate to serrate for entire length; flowers 12-20, in cymes. | Trema |
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