Winged Elm - Ulmus alata

Ulmaceae - Elm Family 
"A Year With the Trees" - Tree Number 90
Winged Elm Tree
Ulmus alata

Spring

Winged Elm in the Smokies by Robert Priddy

This tree is an blooms early in spring.  The winged Elm flowers appear before the leaves.  These flowers are called perfect flowers; for they have both male and female parts.  The fruit, which is called a samara, develops after pollination from the flower.  The fruit has one seed and is eaten by birds, for it one of the first foods in the spring that grows on trees.  The leaf buds open after the flowers.  The leaf buds are a food source for deer.

This tree ususally has corky ridges on the branche.

Summer

TheWinged Elm in early Summer

The leaves of the Winged Elm are toothed, small, and grow alternately on the corky twigs.  By this time of year, all the leaves are fully grown and green.

This Winged Elm leaf  has fallen from the tree probably during a summer rainstorm and turned prematurely yellow.

The early fruits and young leaves of this tree are important wildlife food.  This tree usually grows up to 80 feet and can live over a hundred years of more if not affected by the Dutch Elm disease.

Fall 

This is a closeup I took of the Winged Elm at the North Fork of the White River in Arkansas.
You can really see why it is called the Winged Elm.

The branches of this tree have wings.  

Winter

The Winged Elm - Ulmus alata

This Winged Elm lives at the Asheville Botanical Gardens.  http://www.ashevillebotanicalgardens.org/
Notice how the buds look lacey in this picture and how the wings on the stems stand out.

The Winged Elm - Ulmus alata

The Champion Winged Elm Tree

The champion winged elm tree in North Carolina lives in Falkland, NC.  It is 114 feet high and has a circumference of 117 inches. 
http://www.ncforestservice.gov/Urban/tree_detail.asp?Tree_ID=510

My favorite Winged Elm Tree

My favorite Winged Elm tree lives at the Botanical Gardens in Asheville.

Plant a Winged Elm Tree

The early fruits and young leaves of this tree are important wildlife food.  This tree usually grows up to 80 feet and can live over a hundred years of more if not affected by the Dutch Elm disease.

For the love of the trees,
Becky

Ulmus alata, from my journal...