Winged Elm/Ulmus alata

American Elm
Ulmus americana L.

Bark gray to blackish, thick, divided into flat ridges by deep furrows. Branches ascending, arching, and spreading; open-grown trees vase-shaped in outline. Twigs 2 to 3 mm in diameter with 5 to 7 leaves which increase in size from basal to apical leaf, red-brown. Buds (leaf) brown, small, scaly, acute. Leaves alternate, deciduous, simple; broadly ovate, 5 to 15 cm long, 4 to 6 cm wide; apex acuminate, margin usually doubly serrate, base oblique on short petiole; upper surface smooth, marked with sunken veins pinnately arranged; veins more prominent on underside. Flowers perfect, buds greatly enlarge before opening; with very small flowers abundant in clusters; opening before the leaves expand, blooming from late December into February. Fruit a samara, oval to circular with wing surrounding the seed, about 10 mm in diameter, margin ciliate.

American Elm/Ulmus americana

Sugarberry; hackberry
Celtis laevigata Willd.

Bark light gray to almost white, thin, smooth, usually more or less studded with irregular corky outgrowths. Branches spreading, slender. Twigs about 3 mm in diameter, reddish-brown. Buds about 3 mm long, alternate. Leaves alternate, deciduous, simple; narrowly elliptic to broadly ovate, 6 to 10 cm long, 2 to 4 cm wide; apex acute, margin usually entire, base broadly rounded or oblique. Flowers unisexual or perfect, tiny, inconspicuous, many staminate and few pistillate appearing on the new growth as the leaves unfold. Fruit a drupe with a bony reticulated nutlet, about 5 mm in diameter, orange-red on a pedicel often shorter than the petiole of the subtending leaf.