

WINGED ELM 



(Ulmus alata Michx.) 



TIIE winged elin. gets its common name from the 

 thin corky growth, or "wings," usually found on 

 the smaller branches. It occurs scattered generally 

 over the State except in the mountains, usually on 

 dry, gravelly uplands, but often in moist soils and 

 in waste places. It grows rapidly in moist situa- 

 tions, and at the same time is one of the best trees 

 for planting along road- 

 sides in dry poor loca- 

 tions. It is compara- 

 tively free from disease, 

 though not notably 

 long-lived. This elm is 

 a medium-sized tree of 

 40 to 50 feet in height 

 and rarely as large as 

 2 feet in diameter. It 

 forms a rather open, 

 round-topped head. The 

 bark is light brown, 

 tinged with red, and 

 divided into irregular 

 flat ridges and fissures. 

 The leaves are simple, alternate, 2 to 4 inches 

 long and 1 to 2 inches broad, coarsely double- 

 toothed, thick, dark green and smooth above, and 

 pale and softly downy below. They are smaller than 

 those of any otlier elm native in the State. The 

 flowers appear in early spring, long before the leaves 

 unfold. The fruit ripens in the spring about the 

 time the leaves appear; it is winged, tipped with 2 

 small incurved awns, or beaks, oblong, reddish 

 brown, about one-third of an inch long, with a long 

 slender stalk at the base, and covered with white 

 hairs. 



The wood is very similar to that of the other elms 

 — heavy, hard, strong and difficult to split. It is 

 occasionally used for hubs and mauls. Formerly, 

 rope made of the inner bark was used for binding 

 the covers to cotton bales. 



WINGED ELM 

 Two-thirds natural size. 



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