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| ## slippery elm {#slippery-elm .Title-Header}                         |
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| *Ulmus rubra* Muhl.                                                   |
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| Plant Symbol = ULRU                                                   |
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# *Contributed By: USDA NRCS National Plant Data Center*

## Alternate Names![](media/image2.jpeg){width="2.6993055555555556in" height="1.8027777777777778in"}

Red elm

## Uses

*Ethnobotanic:* This tree was valued for its bark, which supplied
material for the sides of winter houses and roofs of the Meskwaki. The
inner bark was used for cordage by many tribes. The Menomini gathered
the bark, boiled it, and used it for making fiber bags and large storage
baskets. The Dakota, Omaha-Ponca, Winnebago, and Pawnee used the inner
bark fiber for making ropes and cords. Slippery elm was also used
extensively as a medicine. The Iroquois scraped the bark of the tree and
used it in combination with other plants to treat infected and swollen
glands. The inner bark was made into an eye wash for sore eyes. The
Menomini used the inner bark in a tea and it was taken as a physic. The
inner bark was used by the Menomini and the Meskwaki in a poultice to
heal sores on the body. Meskwaki women drank a tea of the bark to make
childbirth easier. The tree also was used by the Ojibwe to treat sore
throats. The fresh inner bark was boiled and the Dakota, Omaha-Ponca,
and other tribes drank the resulting decoction as a laxative. The
indigenous people generously taught some of these uses to early
non-Indian settlers. Today slippery elm is found in health food stores
and is used to relieve sore throats, coughs and other bronchial
ailments, and used as a laxative. The wood is used commercially for
making furniture, paneling, and containers.

*Wildlife:* Birds often nest in the thick elm foliage, and the seeds and
buds are food to songbirds, game birds, and squirrels. Deer and rabbits
browse on the twigs.

## Status

Please consult the PLANTS Web site and your State Department of Natural
Resources for this plant's current status, such as, state noxious
status, and wetland indicator values.

## Description

*General:* Elm Family (Ulmaceae). This graceful, arching tree reaches 20
m, with twigs that are scabrous-pubescent. It can live to be 200 years
old and is identified by its \"slippery\" inner bark. The winter-buds
are densely covered with red-brown hairs. The leaves are oblong to
obovate, thick and stiff and 10-20 cm. They are pinnately veined and not
equilateral. The flowers are subsessile in dense fascicles with 5-9
stamens. They appear before the leaves in the spring. The fruit is a
flat, 1-seeded samara. It is suborbicular, 1.5-2 cm and pubescent over
the seed.

## Distribution

For current distribution, please consult the Plant Profile page for this
species on the PLANTS web site. This plant is found in moist woods, in
southern Maine and southern Quebec to eastern North Dakota, and south to
Florida and Texas.

## Establishment

*Propagation by seeds:* Slippery elm samaras can be gathered when green
and ripe from April to June, by sweeping them up from the ground soon
after they fall or by knocking the branches with poles and collecting
seeds that fall onto tarps. The seeds should then be air-dried for
several days, but too much drying can reduce germination. Sow the seeds
in flats as soon as they are mature. Sow them with their wings, as
de-winging them damages them. There are approximately 90 seeds per gram.
Seeds sometimes show dormancy and if so, need stratification. They
should be stratified at 41° F for 60-90 days in a moist medium. If
storing the seeds before planting, for best results, store them at low
moisture content in sealed containers at cool temperatures. Seedlings
are susceptible to damping off. In the seedling stage, transplant them
into larger containers. The seeds can also be directly planted in the
garden and the tree grows in a range of soil types, but prefers moist,
rich, bottomland soils. This species can become a weed as it tends to
inhabit unkempt shrub borders, hedges, fence-rows, and other open
ground. It is susceptible to Dutch elm disease, but not to the degree of
American elm.

*Propagation by cuttings*: take cuttings in early summer and root with
IBA treatment.

## Cultivars, Improved and Selected Materials (and area of origin)

This species is somewhat available through native plant nurseries within
its range.

## References

Cooley, J.H., & J.W. Van Sambeek 1990. *Ulmus rubra Muhl. Slippery elm.*
pp. 812-816 IN: *Silvics of North America volume 2. hardwoods.* USDA,
Forest Service, Agriculture Handbook 654. Washington, D.C.

Densmore, F. 1974. *How Indians use wild plants for food, medicine and
crafts.* Dover Publications, Inc., New York, New York.

Dirr, M.A. 1997. *Dirr\'s hardy trees and shrubs: an illustrated
encyclopedia.* Timber Press, Portland, Oregon.

Dirr, M.A. 1975. *Manual of woody landscape plants: their
identification, ornamental characteristics, culture, propagation and
uses*. Fifth Edition. Stipes Publishing L.L.C. Champaign, Illinois.

Gilmore, M.R. 1977. *Uses of plants by the Indians of the Missouri River
region.* University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln, Nebraska.

Gleason, H.A. & A. Cronquist 1991. *Manual of vascular plants of
Northeastern United States and adjacent Canada.* Second Edition. The New
York Botanical Garden. Bronx, New York.

Herrick, J.W. 1995. *Iroquois medical botany*. Syracuse University
Press. Syracuse, New York.

Moerman, D.E. 1998. *Native American ethnobotany.* Timber Press.
Portland, Oregon.

Smith, H.H. 1923*. Ethnobotany of the Menomini*. Bulletin of the Public
Museum of the City of Milwaukee 4:1(8-175).

Smith, H.H. 1928. *Ethnobotany of the Meskwaki*. Bulletin of the Public
Museum of the City of Milwaukee 4:2(175-326).

Young, J.A. & C.G. Young 1992. *Seeds of woody plants in North America.*
Discorides Press. Portland, Oregon.

## Prepared By & Species Coordinator

*M. Kat Anderson*

USDA NRCS National Plant Data Center, c/o Plant Science Horticulture,
University of California, Davis, California

Edited 30nov00 jsp; 04jun03 ahv; 30may06jsp

For more information about this and other plants, please contact your
local NRCS field office or Conservation District, and visit the PLANTS
Web site\<[http://plants.usda.gov](http://plants.usda.gov/)\> or the
Plant Materials Program Web site
\<[http://Plant-Materials.nrcs.usda.gov](http://Plant-Materials.nrcs.usda.gov/)\>

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