Are Elm Trees Hardwood Trees

Lacebark or chinese elms offer unusual.

Are elm trees hardwood trees.

In fact these trees used to be the most common shade tree in the united states. Most but not all hardwoods are deciduous perennial plants which are normally leafless for some time during the year. The names hardwood and softwood can be deceiving and they don t actually refer to the strength or consistency of the wood. Tree killing microorganisms like the microfungus responsible for dutch elm disease have been criss crossing the world for centuries shipped along with exotic trees and shrubs timber and wood.

The chinese elm ulmus parvifolia grows in united states department of agriculture plant hardiness zones 5b through 10a. Other soft hardwoods. It produces colorful fall. The texture and density of the wood a tree produces puts it in either the hardwood or softwood category.

With its distinctive vase shape and strong branches elms have always been popular shade trees. Elm hardwood as the name suggests is harvested from the elm tree. Most hardwood trees are deciduous trees which lose their leaves annually like elm or maple. Elm trees are therefore classified as soft hardwoods.

This fungal disease is spread by elm bark beetles and has been responsible for the demise of tens of millions of elm trees in north america and europe. Softwood comes from a conifer cone bearing or evergreen trees such as pine or spruce. Luckily new disease resistant varieties are available to start planting elms again. Dutch elm disease however decimated an estimated 77 million of american elms in north america from 1930 to the late 1980s.

You can easily identify a hardwood from a conifer. As a result disease resistant cultivars and hybrids have been sought out. In fact about 40 percent of american trees are in the hardwood category. They produce a fruit or nut and often go dormant in the winter.

Although the wood of most softwood trees is less dense than hardwoods and often contains more air pockets whether a tree is a. The trees have broad leaves rather than needle like leaves. Hybrid elm trees may have characteristics from either of the parent trees confounding identification. America s forests contain hundreds of different hardwood tree species.

Hardwood trees usually have broad flat leaves as opposed to coniferous needled or scaled tree foliage another name for a hardwood tree is appropriately broadleaf. The elm tree is a deciduous tree it loses its foliage seasonally from the ulmaceae family that was commonly used as a shade tree or for landscaping.