Volcano's fire, earth's rich tones with the fathomless world beneath. Wise the Vans and deep their ways, kinsmen of cosmic winds. Love sublime with death their realm, Vanir o'er all things. Elves and the Forest Aelfgyfu Read Unsurprisingly elves are associated with wooded areas. Scandinavian tradition has woods, and indeed the very trees, as the abode of elves.
Elves can shape-shift into the various creaturs of the forest such as caterpillars.
A number of trees are especially associated with elves though. The ones I have found so far are the oak, the fir, the lime and the elm. Elves are said to dance around oaks - although they are also said to be afraid of thunder. A folk tale tells of an old woman dying who had attempted to uproot a fir tree that was the home of an elf and in both Germany and Russia there used to be a custom of cutting old fir trees instead of uprooting them.