Elm

Etymology

Its Latin name ulmus , would be of Celtic and Indo-European origin and would have the same " root; Al " that Service-tree and Alder.

Toponymy

The old shape of the elm, oulme (of ulmus , Latin elm in ) gave many toponym S, of which the number indicates the great frequency of this tree:

Houmeau, Houme, Oulmes;
oulme often evolved to man , giving toponyms of the type of collar of the dead man , or patronyms of the type Four-men , indicating in the first case, a collar where was a died elm, and in the second, a person living near a group of four elms.

Description

fissured Bark (except young person or Elm of the Caucasus );
Sheets null and void, alternate, simple, doubly toothed and often definitely dissymmetrical at the base (as at the Micocoulier)
Flowers without petals and in red clusters appearing in March on the branches of the previous year;
Pollen oval or round of a size of 28 X 22 µm, relatively smooth;
Pollinisation anémogame (by the wind);
Allergénicité : 1/5, Allergy S cross possible with pollens of Ulmaceous
red-greenish winged Fruit, known as " samare ", dispersed by the wind, appearing in March - April before the sheets, grouped in balls. IT is ripe at the end of May, and one can immediately sow it after harvest.
varieties: One distinguishes in Europe, the common Elm, the smooth Elm, the Elm of mountain. In North America it is the white Elm of America, but of many crossings and selections have been made for several centuries.

A description is made by it in the Encyclopedia or reasoned Dictionary of sciences, arts and the trades (Diderot/1751 -1772).

Habitat

The elm forms groves called “Ormaie S”.

Use of the elm

It is a tree formerly abundantly planted in the Bocage as sawlog (It could be pruned every approximately 7 years). Resisting water when it is immersed, like the Chêne or the Aulne, it was used like hub of wheels of water mill, and like piloti. It was used for the mountings of gun.

It was planted also much downtown as of François Ier and Henri IV, then along the Boulevard S, and for its “ effects of tunnel ” which characterized the North-American old cities. The elm of America indeed had ideal qualities for such a use:

Rapid growth
Broad adaptation to various climates and types of grounds
Wood resistant to the wind
widened Growth not requiring large pruning.

Other employment

the hardness of the elm in made an industrial wood of choice, in particular for Vis, wheels, wooden-soled shoes (see Sabot), hulls of boats of stranding (Flobart S).

the elm is also much high in Bonsaï, mainly by using the elm of China ( Ulmus parvifolia ). Parvifolia meaning “small sheets”, this species lends itself all the more easily to the bonsai.

the buds of elm are used in Gemmothérapie

Traditions

For the Greeks of Antiquity, the elm was the tree of Hermes and Oneiros (god of the dreams and the night, wire of Hypnos, god of the sleep, brother of Thanatos, god of dead). The winged fruits accompanied the hearts by late in front of the supreme judge. He was the Celtic symbol of " générosité". The German ones regarded it as female and crowned tree (associate with the male ash). It is in the shade of an elm that to the Middle Ages one returned justice in the south of France.

The Graphiose

The Graphiose or Dutch disease of the elm devastated the elms in all the northern hemisphere since approximately 1925. It is at the end of the Années 1970 that the disease of the elms appeared for the first time at Paris. No treatment succeeded in coming to end. Injections in the sick trees in 1986 - 1987 were unfruitful. 30 was counted; 000 Parisian elms before the epidemic, whereas today only 1 000 survive, in the broad Parisian avenues (avenue of Italy, Choisy, Lefebvre boulevard, of Grenelle, Garibaldi…) and two very old survivors (one with the garden of Tileries in front of the Orangery and another Saint-Gervais place in front of the town hall of Paris). Whereas, at the 17th century, the elm was the first species of tree in Paris, today, it is one of the least widespread. As long as the young tree is cut, he survives longer than in free growth, although affected of deformation of the bark. But it ends up dying precociously.

Resistance to the graphiose

One seeks to develop elms resisting the graphiose since 1960. Research left in various directions:

Hybridation enters the elm of America and the elm of China. That produced more resistant trees (commercial hybrids are available). However, these trees are smaller than the American elms and do not have its shape in appreciated vase.

Of other attempts was made to develop Cultivar S resistant of Ulmus americana : the varieties Liberty Elm, Valley Forges and New Harmony is available commercially and seems well to resist. However, one will know only about 2010 if they are viable. The Princeton Elm, cultivar created in 1920 for its decorative qualities, seems also well to resist the graphiose.

In 2005, the two types of the most resistant elms are:

a Hybrid Japanese, " Ulmus X resista" there exist 2 cultivars: 'Sapporo Fall Gold'® and " New Horizon". But their characteristics are rather far away from the European elms (port shrubby, pushes very fast).

the Cultivar “LUTECE® Nanguen” is most promising. It should be marketed in 2006. A researcher of INRA of Nancy obtained this hybrid by cross fecundations of 6 varieties of which Orme of mountain (Is France), common Elm and Elm of the Himalayas.

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