Ridiculously Tiny Foliage on Chinese Elm

[daygan]

This is amazing. I came across these stumps today in a park which I noticed about two months ago had been chopped by the park employees. Notice how amazingly tiny the foliage that they put out is!

 

[Stan Kengai]

That looks like an herb (thyme) not a tree! What is the foliage normally like over there in their native range?

 

[daygan]

Normally like this:

and here's a picture of an entire tree, and closer-up of the bark:

 

[Stan Kengai]

Thanks for the photos. This certainly is a curiously interesting case to me. I'll have to think on this for a while.

 

[edprocoat]

Daygan, I bought an elm at the Columbus Bonsai Show in Columbus Ohio with leaves that size. It has leaves about half the size of my Catlin Elm for an example. The leaves are lighter colored too, but not as yellow toned as those in your picture. The lady who sold it was not sure of the name, all she knew was that it was an elm.

ed

 

[Brian Van Fleet]

Daygan, I bought an elm at the Columbus Bonsai Show in Columbus Ohio with leaves that size. It has leaves about half the size of my Catlin Elm for an example. The leaves are lighter colored too, but not as yellow toned as those in your picture. The lady who sold it was not sure of the name, all she knew was that it was an elm.

ed

So...do they call them Chinese Elms in China? They look like fantastic stumps.

Ed...how was the columbus show?

 

[edprocoat]

So...do they call them Chinese Elms in China? They look like fantastic stumps.

Ed...how was the columbus show?

Brian I had a nice time, bought three plants and some soil mix and three pots. There was no cotton candy though, dammit! I took a lot of pictures which did not come out too well, despite the guy assuring me that the lighting was white flourescent, they all or most came out real washed out looking. The neatest display was a guy who grew Erodiums with raised roots as Bonsai, beautiful flowered and exposed roots in a bed of tight , bright green moss in tiny pots displayed on black painted cigar boxes, it was a breathtaking display. Unfortunately he had a black light above his display to enhance the colors which reall does not show well in photography at all, at least mine.

ed

 

[daygan]

So...do they call them Chinese Elms in China? They look like fantastic stumps.

Ha - no, they're called "Lang Yu" trees ... "Yu" is essentially elm, or actually to be more precise, Ulmaceae, because it's used for many trees within the Ulmaceae family, including zelkovas. "Lang" .. well, I can't find an actual meaning for it... it's just "lang"

 

[Oliver Muscio]

I have had similar fine growth after trunk chops of some of my winged elms (ulma alata). They eventually grow out of it and produce normal sized leaves, but may require some thinning of the numerous fine shoots produced. I don't know why they sometimes do this...
Oliver

 

[daygan]

interesting...