Ulmus glabra

Ulmus glabra
Wych elm
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
(unranked):	Angiosperms
(unranked):	Eudicots
(unranked):	Rosids
Order:	Rosales
Family:	Ulmaceae
Genus:	Ulmus
Species:	U. glabra
Binomial name
Ulmus glabra Huds.
Distribution map
Synonyms
Ulmus campestris L. Mill., Wilkomm Ulmus corylacea Dumrt. Ulmus elliptica Koch Ulmus effusa Sibth. Ulmus excelsa Borkh. Ulmus expansa Rota Ulmus leucocarpa Schur. Ulmus macrophylla Mill. Ulmus major Sm. Ulmus montana Stokes, Smith, Loudon, Mathieu, With. Ulmus nuda Ehrh. Ulmus podolica (Wilcz.) Klok. Ulmus popovii Giga. Ulmus scabra Mill., C. K. Schneid., Ley, Ascherson & Graebner Ulmus scotica Gand. Ulmus suberosa Michx. Ulmus sukaczevii Andronov

Ulmus glabra, the wych elm or Scots elm, has the widest range of the European elm species, from Ireland eastwards to the Urals, and from the Arctic Circle south to the mountains of the Peloponnese in Greece; it is also found in Iran. A large, deciduous tree, it is essentially a montane species, growing at elevations of up to 1500 m, preferring sites with moist soils and high humidity. The tree can form pure forests in Scandinavia and occurs as far north as latitude 67°N at Beiarn in Norway. Wych elm has also been successfully introduced to Narsarsuaq, near the southern tip of Greenland (61°N).

The tree was by far the most common elm in the north and west of the British Isles and is now acknowledged as the only indisputably British native elm species. Owing to its former abundance in Scotland, the tree is occasionally known as the Scotch or Scots elm; Loch Lomond said to be a corruption of the Gaelic Lac Leaman interpreted by some as 'Lake of the Elms', 'leaman' being the plural form of leam or lem, 'elm'. However, this is contested, the correct Gaelic name considered Loch Laomainn, its origin obscure.

Closely related species, such as Bergmann's elm U. bergmanniana and Manchurian elm U. laciniata, native to northeast Asia, were once sometimes included in Ulmus glabra; another close relative is the Himalayan or Kashmir elm U. wallichiana.

The word wych (also spelled witch) comes from the Old English wice, meaning pliant or supple, which also gives us wicker and weak. An older name for the tree was "wych hazel", perhaps based on the similar appearance of hazel and wych elm shoots.

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Wikipedia