Ulmus americana

American elm

Family: Ulmaceae · Type: tree · Not Native

American elm is a naturalized tree found in southern California coastal and Sacramento Valley regions along disturbed streambanks at elevations of 60 to 700 meters. Flowering from February to March, this tree produces small reddish-brown flowers before its leaves emerge in early spring. Growing up to 35 meters tall with distinctive bark that splits into ridges curving together at their ends, it has corky branches and red-brown winter buds. Its leaves are large elliptical blades 8.6 to 12.5 centimeters long with strongly double-serrate margins and sparse long hairs on the undersides. The fruit is an elliptical tan seed 0.9 to 1.3 centimeters long with densely ciliate margins.

Habitat: Seeding along disturbed streambanks, or spreading by root suckers near old plantings

Bloom period: Feb-Mar

Elevation: 60-700 m

Bioregions: ScV, SCo

California counties: Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, San Diego, Sacramento, Butte, San Francisco, San Luis Obispo, Santa Cruz

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.