Chinese Elm

Ulmus parvifolia appears to naturalize more easily than U . procera or U . glabra . It has been reported but not documented from Idaho and West Virginia.

Ulmus parvifolia is valued in cultivation for its pleasing form and ornamental bark. It is ruderal primarily in the southeastern United States.

Trees , 25 m; crowns rounded, open. Bark olive green to gray, shedding in irregular, tan to orange plates. Branches long-pendulous, not winged; twigs tan to dark brown, glabrous to pubescent. Buds acute to obtuse; scales brown, pubescent. Leaves: petiole 2-6(-8) mm, glabrous or sparsely pubescent with short hairs. Leaf blade elliptic to ovate-obovate, (3.5-)4-5(-6) × 1.5-2.5 cm, base oblique, margins mostly singly serrate (some doubly serrate), apex acute; surfaces abaxially pale, glabrate, adaxially dark green, lustrous, glabrous; lateral veins forking 5 or more times per side. Inflorescences fascicles, (2-)3-4(-8)-flowered; pedicel 8-10 mm. Flowers: calyx reddish brown, deeply lobed, lobes (3-)4-5, glabrous; stamens 3-4; anthers reddish; stigma lobes white-pubescent, exserted, recurved and spreading with maturity. Samaras green to light brown, elliptic to ovate, ca. 1 cm, not winged, seeds nearly filling samara, notched at apex, glabrous. Seeds thickened, not inflated. 2 n = 28.

Trees, to 25 m tall, d.b.h. to 100 cm, deciduous. Crown broadly orbicular. Bark gray to grayish brown, ± smooth, exfoliating into irregular scale-like flakes. Branchlets dark brown, densely pubescent when young, never winged. Winter buds reddish brown, ovoid-orbicular, glabrous. Petiole 2-6 mm, pubescent; leaf blade lanceolate-ovate to narrowly elliptic, lamina on two sides of midvein unequal in length and width, 2.5-5 × 1-2 cm, thick, abaxially pea green and pubescent when young, adaxially dark green, lustrous, and pubescent only on midvein, base oblique, margin obtusely and irregularly simply serrate, apex acute to obtuse; midvein depressed; secondary veins 10-15 on each side of midvein. Inflorescences fascicled cymes, 3-6-flowered. Pedicel very short, pubescent. Perianth funnelform; tepals 4. Samaras tan to brown, occasionally dark red-brown, elliptic to ovate-elliptic, 10-13 × 6-8 mm, glabrous except for pubescence on stigmatic surface in notch; stalk 1-3 mm, shorter than perianth, sparsely pubescent; perianth persistent or tardily deciduous. Seed at center or toward apex of samara. Fl. and fr. Aug-Oct. 2n = 28.

introduced; Calif., D.C., Ga., Ky., Maine, Md., Mass., Va.; native to Asia (China and Japan).

Anhui, Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hebei, Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Shaanxi, Shandong, Shanxi, Sichuan, Taiwan, Zhejiang [India, Japan, N Korea, Vietnam].

Flowering late summer-early fall.

In woods and in disturbed sites; 0-400m.

Below 800 m.

Microptelea parvifolia (Jacquin) Spach; Planera parvifolia (Jacquin) Sweet; Ulmus campestris Linnaeus var. chinensis Loudon; U. chinensis Persoon; U. coreana Nakai; U. japonica Siebold; U. sieboldii Daveau; Ulmus shirasawana Daveau.