Tree of the month: September 2024 - Elm

​The Elm dominated many rural scenes in the past. Living for hundreds of years and reaching a height of 40 metres the Elm is either native or was introduced to the country during the Bronze Age. Some Elms survive, mostly as hedgerow shrubs. However an estimated 30 million Elm trees were lost, mostly between 1964 and the late 1980’s, due to Dutch Elm Disease caused by a microfungus spread by a beetle.

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​The leaves of Elm, which are fed on by a range of caterpillars and other insects, have asymmetrical bases, the two sides joining the main leaf stem at different heights (see photo on left). They also have a double-toothed edge (see detail, left), are roughsurfaced and tough. 
An old country rhyme goes:
“When the elm leaf is as big as a mouse’s ear
Then sow barley, never fear”

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​We now have our own Dutch Elm Disease resistant variety of Elm - a Wingham cultivar chosen for its similarity to the lost English Elms. Planted in 2023, we hope it will attract the beautiful White-letter Hairstreak butterfly to lay its eggs on the leaves and fly high among its upper branches as the tree matures.

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The Chelsea Road Elm is one Elm that has proved resistant to Dutch Elm Disease. It is home to the White-letter Hairstreak Butterfly, the population of which has declined by 97% since 1976. Over 100 years old, this Sheffield tree became famous when threatened with felling due to the damage it was causing to the pavement. Local residents successfully campaigned against the felling and seven new resistant Elms were also planted nearby, hopefully increasing the chances of the Whiteletter Hairstreak Butterfly colony surviving.

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The wildlife-value of Elm: As well as being the food plant of the White-letter Hairstreak butterfly caterpillar, Elm leaves are eaten by other insects, including Elm Sawfly larvae and the tiny Common Candy-striped Spider. This spider spins a protective web to wrap a leaf around its egg-sac.
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The winged seeds, called samaras, provide food for birds like Woodpeckers and Jays. The rough bark of mature trees are also a habitat for small mammals and birds.

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​Symbolism of the Elm: It is a sad irony, given the devastation wrought by Dutch Elm Disease, that the Elm was a symbol of resilience, but also of hope and renewal. Since they formed imposing landmarks in the past, traveling preachers would often preach and judges hold their courts beneath mature Elms.

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​Uses of Elm timber: Elm wood has a very distinctive grain and is remarkably durable. It is pliant, bending easily when heated, gives a good tone to stringed instruments and, even when wet, lasts a very long time. These qualities led to its use for a wide range of items including furniture, flooring, violins and guitars and, in Scotland, for Shinty sticks. It was the traditional timber for the bottoms of narrow boats and for wheel hubs. Elm was used in the original construction of London Bridge.

Branches and whole trunks of elm were hollowed out by auger for use as water pipes in many British towns. Recently, workers in Edinburgh unearthed 200 year-old elm pipes which originally supplied water to the city.

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​Other human uses of Elm: The ability of Elm to survive in polluted environments led to it being planted along city streets. The inner bark was chewed or boiled to treat colds and sore throats, as well as for treatment of burns.

A yellow dye can be made from Elm and that was used to dye wool in the past, with the inner bark of Elm made into twine to tie the wool into hanks. If other food was scarce the leaves of Elm were fed to stock.

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The Elm in mythology: The Elm is associated, in mythology, with death which could be due to the habit of mature Elm dropping large branches without warning. Equally it could be linked to the popular use in the past of the water-resistant, durable Elm timber for coffins.

In Celtic mythology and in Greek myth the Elm is linked to the Underworld. The Celts believed the Elm had an affinity with Elves and guarded burial mounds, allowing safe passage to the underworld after death.

In Greek mythology Orpheus rescued his beloved wife, Eurydice, from the Underworld by enchanting others with his harp-playing. The Elm was believed to grow at the point he serenaded his love. Around the ‘dancing Elms of Devon’ Mayday dances were traditionally held.

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​The Elm in poetry: Unsurprisingly, given its beauty and status, the Elm appears in many poems. Here are extracts from some well known poets.
Carol Ann Duffy:
Seven sisters in Tottenham
long gone, except for their names,
were English Elms.
Others stood at the edge of farms,
twinned with the shape of clouds
like green rhymes;
or cupped the beads of rain
in their leaf palms;
or glowered, grim giants, warning of storms.

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​A.E. Houseman
When green buds hang in the Elm:
When green buds hang in the Elm like
dust
And sprinkle the lime like rain,
Forth I wander, forth I must,
And drink of life again,
Forth I must by hedgerow bowers
To look at the leaves uncurled,
And stand in the fields where cuckoo
flowers
Are lying about the world.

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​John Clare: The Fallen Elm, 1830:
Old Elm that murmured in our chimney top
the sweetest anthem Autumn ever made
And into mellow whispering calms would drop
When showers fell on thy many-coloured shade,
And when the dark tempests mimic thunder
made
While darkness came as it would strangle light
With the black tempest of a Winter night
That rocked thee like a cradle to thy root,
How did I love to hear the winds upbraid
Thy strength without, while all within was mute;
It seasoned comfort to our heart’s desire
We felt thy kind protection like a friend…
With axe at root he felled thee to the ground
And barred of freedom- how I hate that sound…
Such was thy ruin, music making Elm.

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A verse from the traditional song - ‘Oak, Ash and Thorn’ references the tendency of the mature Elm, mentioned above, to drop a limb without warning:

“Ellum [Elm] she hates mankind and waits
’Til every gust be laid
To drop a limb on the head of him,
That anyway trusts her shade.
Whether a lad be sober or sad
Or mellow with ale from the horn,
He’ll take no wrong when he lieth along
Neath Oak and Ash and Thorn.”