English Elm, Common Elm, Atinian Elm, European Elm, Silver Elm.

Deciduous tree to 30 (–40) m high, broadly columnar with main trunk extending well into the crown (typical habit in Europe and observed in some cultivated trees in Australia) to more rounded (often in SE Australia); suckers often present. Bark roughly fissured/furrowed and often somewhat tessellated, brown, grey or grey-brown. Branchlets softly-hairy, sparsely to ± glabrous; young trees growing from suckers generally have corky branches. Leaves with lamina broadly ovate to broadly obovate, ovate or sometimes ± elliptic or suborbicular, mostly 4–9 cm long, 3–6.5 cm long (leaves can vary on same branch, some larger to 11 × 8 cm, some smaller c. 3 × 2 cm), width usually c. two-thirds to equalling the length, base oblique, cordate on one side (the larger side of lamina usually broadly rounded forming a basal lobe that joins the petiole at or below the middle, with the lobe rarely crossing over the petiole; the smaller side of lamina rounded or tapered at base, sometimes forming a shallow lobe), margin shallowly double-serrate (coarsely toothed), sometimes undulate, apex abruptly acuminate (to acute), upper surface dull to slightly shiny, dark green, scabrous (to scarcely so), lower surface paler, softly-hairy mainly on main veins and with tufts of hairs in vein axils, mostly 10–13 secondary veins each side of midvein (up to 16 veins on the longer side, fide Eversham 2021); petiole 5–9 (–11) mm long, usually softly-hairy; foliage turning yellow in autumn. Samaras obovate or ovate to orbicular, sometimes ± broadly elliptic to elliptic-oblong, ± flat, 10–17 (–25) mm long/wide, broadly winged (wing 4–8 (–10) mm wide), notched at apex, the seed (± central to) nearer the apex (just below the notch).

Deciduous tree. Main branches mostly spreading and arching, forming a columnar crown, the trunk usually continued well up into (more than halfway through) the crown (Yeo 1989). Bark rough, furrowed, grey-brown. Leaves with lamina mostly more than 4 cm long, distinctly oblique at base, margin with teeth double-serrate, apex usually abruptly acuminate, upper surface dull to slightly shiny, ± scabrous, lower surface softly-hairy mainly on main veins and tufts of hairs in vein axils, secondary veins usually 10–13 each side of midvein. Flowers winter–spring. Samara broadly winged, with seed near notched apex.

Leaves often roundish (with width at least two-thirds the length, fide Spencer 1997) and generally smaller and broader than Ulmus ×hollandica.

 Flowers winter–spring.

Naturalised.

Native to Europe. Naturalised in SE South Australia, the Australian Capital Territory and Victoria.

Recorded from disturbed weedy sites, roadside, lower slopes near river with introduced trees and grasses, eucalypt woodland, near river with Casuarina, degraded riparian zone.

Spread by seedlings and suckers, e.g. fide C.J. Brodie & B. Baldock 2145 (MEL), from planted trees, often forming thickets. In Victoria, reported that seeds are usually sterile, with most populations formed by suckering plants growing from nearby parent trees (Messina 2015). An emerging environmental weed in some states (Ulmus procera Weeds of Australia Fact Sheet 2016, accessed April 2023).

S.A.: Mount Gambier, base of Leg of Mutton dried lake by Blue Lake and Valley Lake, thickets of trees by track for 40 m, suckers appearing up to 50 m away, 11 Jan. 2011, C.J. Brodie & B. Baldock 2145 (MEL).

A.C.T.: Stirling Ridge, opposite Singapore embassy, 28 Nov. 1986, M.J. Mulvaney 30063 (CANB); Molonglo River, W side, downstream from Scrivener Dam behind zoo, 7 Sept. 2009, R.W. Purdie 6790A (CANB, NSW).

Vic.: S of Castlemaine, corner of Midland Hwy and Muckleford–Yapeen road, stand appears clonal, 17 Oct. 2000, A.C. Cochrane 1070 (MEL); Frankston, railway embankment near Bundara St, 19 Dec. 1986, M. Malvaney 1 (MEL); Kangaroo Flat Botanic Gardens, Bendigo Flat above dry creek bank, 10 May 2005, R. Shepherd 291 (MEL).

Cultivated ornamental, street and shade tree, popular in parks and used in avenues. Includes cultivars.

The Australian Plant Census (accessed April 2023) currently accepts Ulmus procera Salisb., and it is recorded as naturalised in South Australia, the Australian Capital Territory and Victoria. However, Ulmus procera is now sometimes treated as a synonym of Ulmus minor Mill. subsp. minor, e.g. in Plants of the World Online (accessed April 2023). Brodie & Lang (2016) placed U. procera under U. minor, stating that the "Field Elm, now includes what was once known in the U.K. and Australia as the English Elm." Ulmus procera has also been treated as a synonym of U. minor 'Atinia'.

Ulmus procera may be confused with U. ×hollandica, and many plants grown in Melbourne are possibly hybrids between U. procera and U. minor  making satisfactory determinations difficult (Spencer 1997).

J.H. Willis, A Handbook to Plants in Victoria 2: 27–28 (1972) noted that Ulmus procera Salisb. is widely cultivated but not apparently naturalised (Hewson 1989: 5). However, since publication of the Flora of Australia treatment (Hewson 1989) this taxon is now regarded as being naturalised in Australia according to the Australian Plant Census (accessed 22 September 2021).

A.R. Clapham et al., Flora of the British Isles 1st edn: 718 (1952); A. Mitchell, Field Guide to the Trees of Britain and Northern Europe: 241 (1974); A.R. Clapham & B. Nicholson, The Oxford Book of Trees: 16 (1975); H.L. Edlin, Trees: 38–39 (1978); R. Phillips, Trees in Britain, Europe and North America: 213 (1978); B.D. Morley & H.R. Toelken, Flowering Plants in Australia: 61, fig. 29d–e (1983); A.N. Rodd, The Ultimate Book of Trees & Shrubs for Australian Gardens: 434 (1996); L.D. Pryor & J.C.G. Banks, Trees and Shrubs in Canberra 2nd edn: 168 (2001); F.J. Richardson et al., Weeds of the South-east 3rd edn: 476 (2016); B. Eversham, Identifying British Elms Ulmus v. 2.3.1: 116 (2021); Ulmus procera Weeds of Australia Fact Sheet (2016, accessed April 2023).

Armstrong, J.V. & Sell, P.D. (1996). A revision of the British elms (Ulmus L., Ulmaceae): the historical background. Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society 120(1): 39–50.

Brodie, C.J. & Lang, P.J. (2016). Ulmaceae (version 1), in Kellermann, J. (ed.), Flora of South Australia 5th edn, 7 pp. (State Herbarium of South Australia: Adelaide); www.flora.sa.gov.au/ed5

Edlin, H.L. (1978). Trees. (Books for Pleasure, Hamlyn: Sydney).

Eversham, B. (2021). Identifying British Elms Ulmus v. 2.3.1. (The Wildlife Trusts - Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Northamptonshire). 

Hewson, H.J. (1989). Ulmaceae, in George, A.S. (ed.), Flora of Australia 3: 4–13. (Australian Government Publishing Service: Canberra); Ulmus p. 5.

Messina, A. (2015), updated by Stajsic, V. (2020). Ulmus procera, in VICFLORA - Flora of Victoria. [accessed 1 October 2021, 19 April 2023]

Phillips, R. (1978). Trees in Britain, Europe and North America. (Pan Books: London).

Pryor, L.D. & Banks, J.C.G. (2001). Trees and Shrubs in Canberra 2nd edn. (Little Hills Press: Seven Hills).

Richardson, F.J., Richardson, R.G. & Shepherd, R.C.H. (2016). Weeds of the South-east. An Identification Guide for Australia 3rd edn. (R.G. & F.J. Richardson: Meredith, Victoria).

Rodd, A.N. (1996). The Ultimate Book of Trees & Shrubs for Australian Gardens. (Random House: Milsons Point).

Sherman-Broyles, S.L., Barker, W.T. & Schulz, L.M. (1997). Ulmaceae, Flora of North America Editorial Committee (ed.), Flora of North America North of Mexico. (Oxford University Press: Oxford, New York); Ulmus by Sherman-Broyles, S.L., pp. 369–375; Ulmus procera in Flora of North America www.eFloras.org [Accessed April 2023]

Spencer, R. (1997). Ulmaceae, Horticultural Flora of South-eastern Australia Volume 2. Flowering Plants - Dicotyledons Part 1: 101–117. (University of New South Wales Press: Sydney). [Ulmus, pp. 103–117, based on Spencer et al. (1991).]

Spencer, R., Hawker, J. & Lumley P. (1991). Elms in Australia: their identification and management. (Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne: South Yarra).

Tutin, T.G. (1964). Ulmus, in Tutin, T.G. et al. (eds), Flora Europaea 1: 65–66. (Cambridge University Press: Cambridge).

Yeo, P.F. (1989). Ulmus, in Walter, S.M. et al. (eds), European Garden Flora 3: 80–85. (Cambridge University Press: Cambridge).

Published 19 April 2023. First published as a tentative profile, 23 September 2021. Last updated 12 October 2023.