FAMILY: ULMACEAE
ALTERNATE COMMON NAME: water elm
LEAVES: deciduous, alternate, simple; leaves two-ranked on twigs, short-petiolate; blades ovate to deltoid-ovate, to ca. 2” long by 1.5” wide, bases asymmetrical, margins irregularly serrate; upper blade surface dark green and usually glabrous
FLOWER: bisexual or unisexual, plants monoecious, flowers inconspicuous, flowering in February
FRUIT: dry drupe to 0.5” long with numerous irregular fleshy projections
TWIGS: brown to gray and hairy when young, glabrous when old; terminal buds absent
BARK: gray-brown with thin, loose scales; exfoliating to expose characteristic reddish-brown inner bark
FORM: large shrub to small tree, usually with multiple stems, trunks short, crowns low and spreading
HABITAT: wet bottomland hardwood forests experiencing prolonged flooding; floodplain lakes, often a codominant in shrub swamps
WETLAND DESIGNATION: Obligate Wetland (OBL): Almost always occurs in wetlands of the Atlantic and Gulf Coast Plain Region
RANGE: southeastern US, Gulf and Atlantic Coastal Plains [USGS Range Map]
USES: of little importance commercially, sometimes harvested for pulp; erosion control; sometimes viewed as a weed when invading open grass and sedge-dominated lake bottoms following hydrological alteration
WILDLIFE: cover; regularly browsed by deer in river bottoms
Best Recognition Features:
- low “squatty” tree or shrub on very wet sites
- bark of older plants flaky, exfoliating to expose reddish inner bark
- elm-like leaves (shape and asymmetrical base)
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