Elm Map

The downloadable leaflet below contains a guide to identifying elm trees and images of some of the species that live on them.  It also gives information about Dutch elm disease, which is caused by a fungus and transferred between trees by a bark beetle.  It has killed over 20 million mature elms.

The leaflet was produced as part of the Elm Map project, a collaboration between UK natural history organisations including the Museum, English Nature and the Woodland Trust.  

It involved members of the public recording elm trees growing in their area.  Although the project has now finished, the information it provided is still useful for identifying and understanding this important British species. 

Outcomes of the Elm Map project

• Hundreds of mature elm records were submitted by members of the public and located on the national Ancient Tree Hunt map.  The records are an important resource for a diverse range of projects and are being used to support surveys of the many different species that favour elm tree habitats.

• The Natural History Museum is using the information to locate elm trees that support rare species of butterflies, moths, mosses, fungi and lichens.

• The Conservation Foundation, in a project funded by the Tubney Charitable Trust, has visited mature elms recorded on the Elm Map database and collected cuttings. The cuttings from these trees, which appear to be naturally resistant to Dutch Elm disease, are being grown in a nursery for replanting.

• The British Lichen Society and The British Bryological Society (BBS) plan to survey the lichens and mosses growing on some of the mature elms as part of their regional fieldwork.