Is An Elm Tree A Hardwood

An elm tree and three sisters by norma sommerdorf is a children s book about three young sisters that plant a small elm tree in their backyard.

Is an elm tree a hardwood.

Most hardwood trees are deciduous trees which lose their leaves annually like elm or maple. For a tree to be a hardwood is based on whether that tree is deciduous not on the density of the wood. Elm is a hardwood because it is a deciduous tree meaning it loses its leaves every year. As a result disease resistant cultivars and hybrids have been sought out.

Softwood comes from a conifer cone bearing or evergreen trees such as pine or spruce. The names hardwood and softwood can be deceiving and they don t actually refer to the strength or consistency of the wood. Elm trees throughout europe and north america were devastated by dutch elm disease or ded. Indeed the key is to give the elm enough time to dry to become completely dry.

In fact these trees used to be the most common shade tree in the united states. Once it is cut and divided you need to spend plenty of time to dry. Ded is caused by a micro fungus that is spread by the elm bark beetle. Hybrid elm trees may have characteristics from either of the parent trees confounding identification.

Softwood trees are conifers like pine which are evergreen and have needles instead of leaves. 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. The chinese elm is a hardwood tree. Being so young there was very little heartwood formed yet the darker brown wood on the right half with the majority of the wood being sapwood light area on the left half of the scans.

The cutting of the elm was a diplomatic altercation between the kings of france and england in 1188 during which an elm tree near gisors in normandy was felled. Although the wood of most softwood trees is less dense than hardwoods and often contains more air pockets whether a tree is a. Although the wood of. The wood was commonly used to build wagon wheels and chair seats.

Shown below is a piece of lumber from a small tree that was killed by dutch elm disease. Elm hardwood as the name suggests is harvested from the elm tree. The texture and density of the wood a tree produces puts it in either the hardwood or softwood category. Chinese elm tree softwood or hardwood.

Elm trees are therefore classified as soft hardwoods. Wood from the elm tree is very strong and it s valued for its interlocking grain.