Elm, Huntingdon (Ulmus glabra x minor)

A Huntingdon elm can grow to 30m. The bark is grey with crossing fissures, and twigs are dark grey and covered in coarse hairs. It is a cross cultivated hybrid of the smooth-leaved elm and the wych elm.

Look out for: the asymmetric leaf bases which are common in all elms. Leaves are rough to the touch on the top surface.

Identified in winter by: twigs which are sparsely hairy, often becoming smooth with age. Buds lack a leaf scar below them.

What does Huntingdon elm look like?

Not to be confused with:

Other elms or hazel (Corylus avellana).

Where to find Huntingdon elm

Huntingdon elm was widely planted in the UK, particularly between the end of the nineteenth century and the 1930s, owing to its very rapid growth and can therefore be found around towns and residential areas.

It appears to have some resistance to Dutch elm disease, so is still seen in towns and parks.

Value to wildlife

Many birds eat elm seeds and the leaves provide food for the caterpillars of a variety of moths, including the peppered, light emerald and white-spotted pinion moths. Caterpillars of the white-letter hairstreak butterfly feed on elms and the species has declined dramatically since Dutch elm disease arrived in the UK.

Mythology and symbolism

Elms used to be associated with melancholy and death, perhaps because the trees can drop dead branches without warning. Elm wood was also the preferred choice for coffins. In Lichfield it was the custom to carry elm twigs in a procession around the Cathedral Close on Ascension Day, then to throw them in the font.

Uses of Huntingdon elm

Elm wood is strong and durable with a tight-twisted grain, and is resistant to water. It has been used in decorative turning, and to make boats and boat parts, furniture, wheel hubs, wooden water pipes, floorboards and coffins.

Threats and conservation

Huntingdon elm is highly susceptible to Dutch elm disease, a fungal disease which devastated populations of elms since it arrived in the UK in the 1960s. However, it shows some resistance to the disease.

Elms can also be affected by galls from aphids, which migrate from fruit-cultivated trees.