Japanese Elm (Ulmus japonica)
At a glance
- Lifecycle
- Perennial (hardy)
- Exposure
- Full sun
- Frost limit
- −28.9 °C
Cultivation
Prefers a fertile soil in full sun. This species is resistant to 'Dutch elm disease', a disease that has destroyed the greater part of all the elm trees growing in Britain. The disease is spread by means of beetles. There is no effective cure (1992) for the problem, but most E. Asian, though not Himalayan, species are resistant (though not immune) to the disease so the potential exists to use these resistant species to develop new resistant hybrids with the native species. The various species of this genus hybridize freely with each other and pollen is easily saved, so even those species with different flowering times can be hybridized. Closely related to U. davidiana.
Propagation
Seed - if sown in a cold frame as soon as it is ripe, it usually germinates within a few days. When they are large enough to handle, prick the seedlings out into individual pots and grow them on in the greenhouse for their first winter. Plant them out into their permanent positions in late spring or early summer, after the last expected frosts. Plants should not be allowed to grow for more than two years in a nursery bed since they form a tap root and will then move badly. Layering of suckers or coppiced shoots.
Edible uses
Leaves - raw or cooked. Young fruits - cooked. Inner bark - cooked. It is usually dried, ground into a powder and then used as a thickening in soups or added to cereal flours when making bread etc.
Medicinal uses
The bark is diuretic, nervine and purgative.
Material uses
A fibre is obtained from the inner bark. Wood - heavy, difficult to work. Used for axles, hubs etc.
Habitat
Slopes, waterlands near stream and in valleys below 2000 - 2300 metres.
Native range
E. Asia - China, Japan, Korea.