Editing Elm (section)

==Uses==

===Wood===
[[File:Elm wood grain.jpg|thumb|right|Elm wood]]
[[File:Constable - Boat-Building near Flatford Mill, 1815, FA.37.jpg|thumb|right|Elm in boatbuilding: [[John Constable]], ''[[Boat-Building Near Flatford Mill]]'', 1815 (landscape with hybrid elms ''Ulmus × hollandica''<ref name="Richens"/>)]]
[[File:Bogenbau-Flaemischer-Spleiss.jpg|thumb|right|[[English longbow]] of elm]]

Elm [[wood]] is valued for its interlocking grain, and consequent resistance to splitting, with significant uses in [[wagon]]-wheel hubs, [[Windsor chair|chair]] seats, and [[coffin]]s. The bodies of Japanese ''[[Taiko]]'' drums are often cut from the wood of old elm trees, as the wood's resistance to splitting is highly desired for nailing the skins to them, and a set of three or more is often cut from the same tree. The elm's wood bends well and distorts easily. The often long, straight trunks were favoured as a source of timber for [[keel]]s in ship construction. Elm is also prized by [[bowyer]]s; of the [[Holmegaard bow|ancient bows]] found in Europe, a large portion are elm. During the [[Middle Ages]], elm was also used to make [[English longbow|longbows]] if [[Taxus baccata|yew]] was unavailable.

The first written references to elm occur in the [[Linear B]] lists of military equipment at [[Knossos]] in the [[Mycenae|Mycenaean period]]. Several of the chariots are of elm ("πτε-ρε-ϝα", ''pte-re-wa''), and the lists twice mention wheels of elmwood.<ref>Michael Ventris and John Chadwick, ''Documents in Mycaenean Greek'', Cambridge 1959</ref> [[Hesiod]] says that ploughs in Ancient Greece were also made partly of elm.<ref>[[Hesiod]], ''[[Works and Days]]'', 435</ref>

The density of elm wood varies between species, but averages around 560&nbsp;kg/m<sup>3</sup>.<ref name="nichetimbers.co.uk">[http://www.nichetimbers.co.uk/native-hardwood/elm/ Elm] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121003072048/http://www.nichetimbers.co.uk/native-hardwood/elm/ |date=3 October 2012 }}. Niche Timbers. Accessed 19-08-2009.</ref>

Elm wood is also resistant to decay when permanently wet, and hollowed trunks were widely used as water pipes during the medieval period in Europe. Elm was also used as piers in the construction of the original [[London Bridge]], but this resistance to decay in water does not extend to ground contact.<ref name="nichetimbers.co.uk"/>

===Viticulture===
The Romans, and more recently, Italians, planted elms in vineyards as supports for vines. Lopped at 3 m, the elms' quick growth, twiggy lateral branches, light shade, and root suckering made them ideal trees for this purpose. The lopped branches were used for fodder and firewood.<ref>[[Columella]], ''De Re Rustica''</ref> [[Ovid]] in his ''Amores'' characterizes the elm as "loving the vine": ''ulmus amat vitem, vitis non deserit ulmum'' (the elm loves the vine, the vine does not desert the elm),<ref>[[Ovid]], ''Amores'' 2.16.41</ref> and the ancients spoke of the "marriage" between [[The Elm and the Vine|elm and vine]].<ref>Virgil, ''Georgica'', I.2: ''ulmis adiungere vites'' (:''to marry vines to elms''); Horace, ''Epistolae'' 1.16.3: ''amicta vitibus ulmo'' (the elm clothed in the vine); and [[Catullus]], ''Carmina'', 62</ref>

===Medicinal products===
The [[mucilage|mucilaginous]] [[Bark (botany)|inner bark]] of the slippery elm (''[[Ulmus rubra]]'') has long been used as a [[demulcent]], and is still produced commercially for this purpose in the US with approval for sale as a [[nutritional supplement]] by the [[Food and Drug Administration]].<ref>{{cite book|title=Herbs and Natural Supplements: An Evidence-Based Guide|url=https://archive.org/details/evidencebasedgui00lbra|url-access=limited|last=Braun|first=Lesley|author2=Cohen, Marc |year=2006 |publisher=Churchill Livingstone |isbn=978-0-7295-3796-4 |page=[https://archive.org/details/evidencebasedgui00lbra/page/n585 586]|edition=2nd}}, quote:"Although Slippery Elm has not been scientifically investigated, the FDA has approved it as a safe demulcent substance."</ref>

===Fodder===
Elms also have a long history of cultivation for [[fodder]], with the leafy branches cut to feed [[livestock]]. The practice continues today in the Himalaya, where it contributes to serious deforestation.<ref name=Maunder>Maunder, M. (1988). Plants in Peril, 3. Ulmus wallichiana (Ulmaceae). ''Kew Magazine''. 5(3): 137-140. Royal Botanic Garden, Kew, London.</ref>

===Biomass===
As [[fossil fuel]] resources diminish, increasing attention is being paid to trees as sources of energy. In Italy, the [[Istituto per la Protezione delle Piante]] is (2012) in the process of releasing to commerce very fast-growing elm cultivars, able to increase in height by more than {{convert|2|m|ft|abbr=off}} per year.<ref name = SantiniInPress>Santini, A., Pecori, F., Pepori, A. L., Ferrini, F., Ghelardini, L. (In press). Genotype × environment interaction and growth stability of several elm clones resistant to Dutch elm disease. ''Forest Ecology and Management''. Elsevier B. V., Netherlands.</ref>

===Food===
[[Elm bark]], cut into strips and boiled, sustained much of the rural population of [[Norway]] during the great famine of 1812. The seeds are particularly nutritious, containing 45% crude protein, and less than 7% fibre by dry mass.<ref name=Osborne>Osborne, P. (1983). The influence of Dutch elm disease on bird population trends. ''Bird Study'', 1983: 27-38.</ref>
[[File:Molen De Hoop, Oldebroek spoorwiel.jpg|thumb|right|Internal mill-wheel of elm, De Hoop mill, [[Oldebroek]], Netherlands]]

===Alternative medicine===
Elm has been listed as one of the 38 substances that are used to prepare [[Bach flower remedies]],<ref name="Vohra2004">{{cite book|author=D. S. Vohra|title=Bach Flower Remedies: A Comprehensive Study|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=icG8onA0ys8C&pg=PR3|access-date=2 September 2013|date=1 June 2004|publisher=B. Jain Publishers|isbn=978-81-7021-271-3|page=3|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131231084700/http://books.google.com/books?id=icG8onA0ys8C&pg=PR3|archive-date=31 December 2013|df=dmy-all}}</ref> a kind of [[alternative medicine]].

===Bonsai===
[[File:Ulmus Parvifolia.JPG|thumb|right|Chinese Elm ''Ulmus parvifolia'' bonsai]]
Chinese elm (''[[Ulmus parvifolia]]'') is a popular choice for [[bonsai]] owing to its tolerance of severe pruning.