Is this elm?

[Slackbunny]

I cut a tree a few weeks ago that I believe is Elm. I've taken some pictures of a tree that is the same as the one I cut. I'm pretty sure that it's an elm of some kind, but I can't seem to narrow it down. What do you guys think?

[JW_Halverson]

The leaves look very "elm-y", but I am not familiar with that bark, so I cannot say which species.  Around here we have several cultivars of Chinese elm and American elm, but that's it. 

Make a bow from it, call it the Tickle Me Elm Bow.

[Slackbunny]

Its been the bark that's been throwing me off as well. It split like heck and feels fairly heavy so I imagine it will get the job done. I live in New Brunswick Canada if that helps anyone.

[Crogacht]

Yeah I'm with JW, the leaves on it look identical to the elm I cut down, but bark is very different.

[PatM]

The bark is well within the natural variation for Elm.  I could find a  dozen trees with bark like that in my area without looking too hard.
 New Brunswick probably only has one species of Elm or two at the most. Red or American. Where are you located in the province?

[Slackbunny]

I live in Woodstock. Its right on the Saint John River, just across the border from Houlton, Maine.

The more pictures I look at, the more I think that its American Elm (Ulmus Americana) that I've got.

[HDF]

Those leaves look identical to an elm we had in the garden, the bark not at all though!

[JLoranger]

Yup, looks like elm to me. Just made two bows from one just like that. Nice dense wood, responds great to a heat treated belly and a bit of a trapped/crowned back.. Personally love working witht the stuff.

[Marc St Louis]

Elm have asymmetrical leaves, those aren't.

[PatM]

Have another look Marc, the base is asymmetrical. Probably less apparent in the immature leaves.

[zenart]

The leaves look to be alternating  to me, so asymmetrical.  (Symmetrical would be growing out from same node.)

http://elmcare.com/about_elms/identifying/identifying_leaves.htm

[DarkSoul]

Elm have asymmetrical leaves, those aren't.

Elm may have an asymmetrical leaf base, but not always. It is also less apparent in young leaves, such as the ones pictures here.

However, since I do see some asymmetry in some of the leaves, it is pretty obvious that is must be an elm of some sort. Since I'm not familiar with North American Ulmus species, I can't ID it to species level. However, since all elms are good bow wood, there is no need to worry. Just cut it and treat it as bow wood!

[Slackbunny]

Thanks for the help guys. Hopefully by this time next year I'll have it turned into a couple bows. There seems to be quite a few of these growing around here, and I'm glad to have found another species accessible to me.

[Crogacht]

That's the spirit I think I could quite successfully harvest and hoard wood without ever making a bow and still be relatively satisfied as I look upon my stack of wood every time I go past 

[Marc St Louis]

Yes you are right, some of them are asymmetrical