Ulmus lanceifolia

Ulmus lanceaefolia
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Division:	Magnoliophyta
Class:	Magnoliopsida
Order:	Rosales
Family:	Ulmaceae
Genus:	Ulmus
Species:	U. lanceaefolia
Binomial name
Ulmus lanceaefolia Roxburgh ex Wall.

Ulmus lanceaefolia (syns. lanceofolia Roxb., hookeriana Planch. and tonkinensis Gagnep.) is a very large tree endemic to a wide area of southern Asia extending southeast- and eastwards from Darjeeling in the Himalaya, through Bangladesh, southern China, Myanmar (formerly Burma), Thailand, Laos, Vietnam and on discontinuously into Indonesia, straddling the Equator in Sumatra and the Celebes. The tree is deciduous in the north of its range, where it can occur at altitudes of up to 2500 m, but evergreen in the tropics. It can reach a maximum height of 45 m, placing it on a par with the English Elm, but with pendulous branches; the bark of the trunk exfoliates in thin scales. The leaves are borne on wing-less branchlets and are narrow, generally lanceolate, < 10 cm long by 3.5 cm broad, and thick. Given the latitudinal range, there is inevitably a substantial variation in its flowering time, beginning in October in the north, but advancing to February - March in the south. The obovate samarae are 12 mm - 30 mm long by 11 mm - 24 mm broad.

The tree is not known to be in cultivation in the West.

N.B. Fu [1] treats the tree as found in China and Vietnam as a separate species, U. tonkinensis.

References

• Fu, L., Xin, Y. & Whittemore, A. (2002). Ulmaceae, in Wu, Z. & Raven, P. (eds) Flora of China, Vol. 5 (Ulmaceae through Basellaceae). Science Press, Beijing, and Missouri Botanical Garden Press, St. Louis, USA. [2]
• Melville, R. & Heybroek, H. M. (1971). The Elms of the Himalaya. Kew Bulletin Vol. 26 (1). Royal Botanic Garden, Kew, London.