Wood: The
wood is pale, and therefore this species is often referred to as the "white
elm." This was once the most important timber elm in the US. The wood
is strong, tough, hard, heavy and coarse-grained. It was used for veneer,
durable flooring, sporting goods, ship-building, barrel staves and for the
bent parts of furniture. The wood holds screws well and was widely used
for boxes and crates. Native Americans used the bark to make ropes and the
wood for canoes.
Wildlife: Elms are relatively unimportant to wildlife compared to oaks, maples and dogwoods. Songbirds, gamebirds and rodents feed on the seeds and buds. Deer and rabbits eat the twigs and buds and elms are often used as nesting sites by a variety of birds. This species was the favorite nesting tree of the Baltimore oriole.
Horticulture: With a tall, graceful outline and casting excellent shade, the American elm was once the most popular tree for street and yard planting in America. Cultivars resistant to Dutch elm disease, have replaced this tree in landscape use, although some so-called resistant cultivars have, with time, also succumbed to the disease. 'American Liberty' is reportedly a resistant form of U. americana; 'Urban Elm,' a cross between U. hollandica (from the Netherlands) and U. ameri (from Siberia) is a resistant form with an upright habit; and 'Delaware #2' is a highly resistant cultivar.
