This cedar elm is so, like, in the right place! Shade on the basketball court on summer afternoons, when the sun is aimed from the west.
If you shoot from the right side of the court, from about 15 feet out, the ball can't arc too high or it gets blocked by drooping branches ("arboreal defense"), but it's a small price to pay for the relief from intense radiation. Find another bball court with this amenity? Doubt it. Overton Park, right across from Tanglewood Elementary.
"Rebo" Under
Nov 2007
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Ulmus crassifolia Nuttall Cedar Elm (basket elm, southern rock elm, or olmo [Spanish]).
Native to the south-central USA and northeastern Mexico.
Cedar elm was named for its common association with junipers ("cedar"), and it often grows on dry limestone hills, but the species also commonly grows in bottomlands and stream terraces. This apparent duality in habitat suggests that there may be significant genetic variants within the species.
Form: medium-sized trees up to 80 feet tall, with a rounded crown of drooping branches.
Bark: Light brown, furrowed into scaly ridges.
Leaves: alternate, thick and slightly leathery, dark green and rough above with soft hairs beneath, mostly about 1-2 inches long, with toothed edges, bases conspicuously asymmetric. Cedar elm has the smallest leaves of any native North American elm.
Flowers: inconspicuous, light green in small tight clusters in leaf axils, appearing in September to early October; wind-pollinated. Cedar elm is the only American species besides Ulmus serotina (September elm) that flowers in the fall. Chinese elm also is fall-flowering.
Additional information and photos:
* Image Archive of Central Texas Plants, University of Texas (excellent photos)
* Silvics of North America. Vol. 2. Hardwoods. USDA Forest Service, Agriculture Handbook 654.
* USDA Plants website
"If you look up, often you find that you're standing under something." Wisdom from Ben Under, Rebo's uncle.
Shade is a renewable resource.
