Field elm
Ulmus minor
Family · Ulmaceae · Harmless
The village square tree, the one that shaded the square and the church across half the Peninsula. Dutch elm disease killed most mature specimens from the 1970s on, and today you mostly find root suckers that die before growing.
Streams and ditches · Fields and pasture · Town and roadside · Roadsides and waste ground
Also known assmooth-leaved elm, common elm
How to tell it
The leaf base is asymmetric: one side runs lower than the other along the stalk, and that never fails on any leaf. Rough above, doubly toothed. Winged, round, green fruits appearing before the leaves, in March.
What it is confused with
No dangerous lookalikes known in the Iberian Peninsula.
What it is for
Timber resistant to damp, used in wheels, tubs and old water pipes. The leaf was fodder. Today the interest is different: an avenue of mature elms is a rarity worth recognising.