Ulmus japonica
| Ulmus japonica | |
| Light: |   |
| Moisture: |  |
| Hardiness: | 5 |
| Soil pH: | 5.6-8.4 |
| Height: | 115' |
| Blooms: | Early Spring-Late Spring |
| Open Woods Forest | |
| Native to: | |
| Edible Rating: |  |
| Medicinal Rating: |  |
| Tea: | Yes |
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Ulmus japonica (common name: japanese elm)
Propagation: Seed - if sown in a cold frame as soon as it is ripe, it usually germinates within a few days[1]. Stored seed does not germinate so well and should be sown in early spring[1]. The seed can also be harvested 'green' (when it has fully developed but before it dries on the tree) and sown immediately in a cold frame. It should germinate very quickly and will produce a larger plant by the end of the growing season[2]. When they are large enough to handle, prick the seedlings out into individual pots and grow them on in the greenhouse for their first winter. Plant them out into their permanent positions in late spring or early summer, after the last expected frosts. Plants should not be allowed to grow for more than two years in a nursery bed since they form a tap root and will then move badly.
Layering of suckers or coppiced shoots[1].
Cultivation: Prefers a fertile soil in full sun[3], but is easily grown in any soil of at least moderate quality so long as it is well drained[4].
This species is resistant to 'Dutch elm disease', a disease that has destroyed the greater part of all the elm trees growing in Britain. The disease is spread by means of beetles. There is no effective cure (1992) for the problem, but most E. Asian, though not Himalayan, species are resistant (though not immune) to the disease so the potential exists to use these resistant species to develop new resistant hybrids with the native species[1].
The various species of this genus hybridize freely with each other and pollen is easily saved, so even those species with different flowering times can be hybridized[1].
Closely related to U. davidiana[1], and considered to be no more than a subspecies of that species by some botanists[5].
Range: E. Asia - China, Japan, Korea.
Habitat: Slopes, waterlands near stream and in valleys below 2000 - 2300 metres[5].
Edibility: Leaves - raw or cooked[6][7].
Young fruits - cooked[6][7]. The fruit is about 15mm long and 10mm wide[1].
Inner bark - cooked. It is usually dried, ground into a powder and then used as a thickening in soups or added to cereal flours when making bread etc[6][7].
Medicinal: The bark is diuretic, nervine and purgative[8].
Usage: A fibre is obtained from the inner bark[9]. The bark is soaked for 7 - 10 days in water, the inner and outer barks are then separated and the inner bark is stripped into strands and made into thread by chewing it. It is made into a coarse fabric[9].
Wood - heavy, difficult to work. Used for axles, hubs etc[10][11].
Pollinators: Wind
Soil: Can grow in light, medium, and heavy soils.
Drainage: Prefers well drained soil.
Seed Ripens: Mid Spring-Late Spring
Flower Type: Hermaphrodite
Also Known As: U. propinqua. Koidz.
Links
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 Huxley, Anthony. The New Royal Horticultural Society Dictionary of Gardening. MacMillan Press, 1992.
- ↑ McMillan-Browse, Philip. Hardy Woody Plants from Seed. Grower Books, 1985.
- ↑ Brickell, Christopher. The RHS Gardener's Encyclopedia of Plants and Flowers. Dorling Kindersley Publishers, 1990.
- ↑ Chittendon, Fred. RHS Dictionary of Plants. Oxford University Press, 1951.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Flora of China. 1994.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 Tanaka, Tyōzaburō. Tanaka's Cyclopaedia of Edible Plants of the World. Keigaku Publishing, 1976.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Kunkel, Günther. Plants for Human Consumption. Koeltz Scientific Books, 1984.
- ↑ Duke, James and Edward Ayensu. Medicinal Plants of China. Reference Publications, 1985.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 Bell, Lilian. Plant Fibres for Papermaking. Liliaceae Press, 1988.
- ↑ Uphof, Johannes. Dictionary of Economic Plants. Weinheim, 1959.
- ↑ Usher, George. A Dictionary of Plants Used by Man. Constable, 1974.