The Irvington Elm
age unknownField Elm
Which one is it? A notably tall elm with a high, vase-shaped crown and small, asymmetric-based leaves rough to the touch.
Thirty five metres tall on a trunk 4.5 metres round, which makes this the tallest street tree in Irvington and one of the tallest elms anywhere on this site. That it is standing at all is the point. Dutch elm disease reached North America in 1930 and took an estimated hundred million trees, and it rewrote what American streets look like: the elm arch that shaded half the country's residential blocks is largely a photograph now. Portland was luckier than most, partly through geography and partly through an aggressive city programme of inspection and removal, and elms like this one are what luck plus effort left behind. Field elm is the European native, no more resistant than any other, so this tree has simply not been found by the beetle that carries the fungus. Every year it goes unfound is another year. The city registered it in 2003. Two blocks south stand the pair of heritage planes; the wingnut line is four blocks west.
The button above opens directions in your maps app. NE 18th Avenue at Stanton, Irvington. Bus 8, then a short walk east.
- Species
- Field Elm (Ulmus minor)
- Age estimate
- Location
- 2546 NE 18th Avenue, Irvington (Irvington)
- Access
- Free. Street tree on the public right of way.
- Getting there
- NE 18th Avenue at Stanton, Irvington. Bus 8, then a short walk east.
Trees nearby
Ticking this one off, walks past several more, and your collection growing city by city: that is the Ancient Trees app.
Get the appThis page was researched from a distance. If you know this tree, you know things we do not: the species, the age, the size, whether the photo shows the right tree, or that it is gone. Every field on this page can be corrected.
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