J24: Wych Elm, Ulmus glabra
Three species of Elm once dominated the British landscape but were destroyed as trees in the late 1960’s by Dutch Elm disease, a fungus carried by a beetle. The tree suckers from the base and Elms survive as small to medium sized bushes. Resistant trees are both surviving and being bred. The leaves are characteristically doubly dentate and asymmetric at the base. It flowers in February and March before the leaves emerge, and fruits in June and July with characteristic discoid winged fruits with the seeds in the centre. Wych Elms are more common in the North of England. The Wych Elm is host to the White-Letter Hairstreak moth.