Welcome to the Wych Elm Tree

Wych elm close up

Family Activity

  • Let’s look up close at our leaves. Find a leaf on the ground – it doesn’t have to be a wych elm leaf.
  • Have a good look at it. Is it a simple leaf or is it compound – with lots of leaflets coming off a single stalk like feathers or a hand?
  • Trace the outline of the leaf with your finger – what shape is it? Is it long & thin or round or oval? Does it have indents or lobes? Does it have a pointy tip or is it blunt?
  • Hold your leaf up to the light and look through it – how see-through is it? What can you see inside it? Are there veins or lines inside?
  • What colour is it when you hold it up to the light? Is it symmetrical?
  • Look at the base of the leaf where it joins the stalk – all elm leaves are asymmetrical.
  • What about the edges of the leaf – are they smooth or jaggedy with teeth? Can you count any points on the leaf?
Wych elm with samaras
  • Bring the leaf right up close to your eye & look along the top surface, as if it’s a flat land.
  • Can you see any little tiny hairs coming out of the leaf? Turn it over – are there any little tiny hairs on this side? What colour are they?
  • Are they all over the leaf or in between where the veins meet – the axils? Are there any on the stalk?
  • You are now a tree leaf identifier!
  • Wych elm leaves are very difficult to tell apart from other elm species, & it’s easy to confuse them with the hazel.
  • Sometimes elm leaves have 2 pointy ears on either side of the pointy tip & wych elm leaves are the biggest native tree leaf in the UK!

Photographs © Avon Gorge & Downs Wildlife Project.