Photo: Mason Brock, Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

Cedar Elm

Ulmus crassifolia

Also called basket elm, southern rock elm, Texas elm.

A tough shade tree with the smallest leaves of any native elm, flowers in late summer and clear yellow fall color, for dry or soggy clay.

Drought tolerantFall colorWildlife valueTolerates wet soil

Type: Large tree
Mature height: 50–70 ft
USDA zones: 6–9
Growth rate: Fast
Sun: Full, Part
Soil moisture: Dry, Average, Wet
Grows wild in: Floodplain forests, stream banks, rocky ground and dry uplands
Native range: 8 states, north to Missouri, south to Florida and west to Texas
List all 8
Arkansas, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Texas
See what is native in your state

Hardiness zones Find your zone by ZIP code

Cedar elm is the common elm of Texas, planted there widely as a shade and street tree. Its leaves, 1 to 2 inches long, are stiff and rough to the touch. It is one of the two native elms that flower in late summer and fall, with September elm. The name comes from those rough leaves and from the Ashe juniper, called cedar, that it grows beside on limestone hills. Tennessee lists it as a species of special concern. Use it as a shade or street tree on hot, heavy clay, alongside other kinds of trees.

Size, growth and what to expect

Cedar elm grows fast, about 2.75 feet a year in our growth estimator. Expect 50 to 70 feet with a rounded crown 40 to 60 feet wide.

It flowers in August and September, and the samaras ripen in September and October. Some years a second round of flowers opens in October, with seed in November. The seeds make up a tenth of the plain chachalaca's diet in south Texas, and wild turkeys eat the seeds and buds. The leaves feed mourning cloak and question mark caterpillars.

It grows wild from southwest Tennessee and Arkansas through Oklahoma, Louisiana, western Mississippi and Texas into northeast Mexico, with an outlying stand in north Florida. Its best growth is on deep, moist soils along streams. On dry limestone hills it stays small and scrubby.

How to grow Cedar Elm

Cedar elm grows best in full sun and takes part shade. It grows in sand, loam, heavy clay or limestone soil and is not particular about pH. It takes long drought once established and also stands wet, poorly drained ground. Plant it 30 feet from a wall and more than 50 feet from overhead wires, and set trees 40 feet apart.

Saplings ship bare-root or potted. Plant them dormant, from leaf fall until bud swell, in a hole wider than the roots and no deeper. Set the root flare at the soil line, put the native soil back in, and keep the mulch clear of the trunk. Sow the seed outdoors in fall, no deeper than a quarter inch, and seedlings come up in spring. For spring, hold it damp in the refrigerator for 60 to 90 days first. In a nursery bed only 5 to 12 percent of good seed grows into a plantable seedling.

Water weekly through the first summer. It is not deer resistant, so guard young trees for the first few years. Keep one leader, and keep side limbs under about two thirds the width of the trunk, since weak crotches can split. The branches droop as the tree grows, so raise the crown over walks and drives.

Each cedar elm flower carries both male and female parts, but elms seldom set seed with their own pollen. The wind carries pollen between trees, so plant two or more if you want seed. Dutch elm disease can kill cedar elm, though it is less harmful here than in American elm. Plant it among other kinds of trees, so that a single pest or disease reaches only part of the planting. Mistletoe, aphids, elm leaf beetles and powdery mildew are its other common troubles. The flowers shed pollen with the ragweeds and can worsen late-summer hay fever.

Heights and zones are typical ranges for the species in cultivation; local conditions and seed source shift them.

Sources (13)