''Zelkova carpinifolia'', known as Caucasian zelkova, Caucasian elm or just zelkova, is a species of ''

Zelkova ''Zelkova'' (from Georgian ''dzelkva'', 'stone pillar') is a genus of six species of deciduous trees in the elm family Ulmaceae, native to southern Europe, and southwest and eastern Asia. They vary in size from shrubs (''Z. sicula'') to large ...

'', native to the

Caucasus The Caucasus () or Caucasia (), is a region between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, mainly comprising Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia (country), Georgia, and parts of Southern Russia. The Caucasus Mountains, including the Greater Caucasus range ...

, Kaçkar, and

Alborz The Alborz ( fa, البرز) range, also spelled as Alburz, Elburz or Elborz, is a mountain range in northern Iran that stretches from the border of Azerbaijan along the western and entire southern coast of the Caspian Sea and finally runs nort ...

mountains in the extreme southeast of

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

and southwest

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an are ...

. It is a medium-sized to large

deciduous In the fields of horticulture and Botany, the term ''deciduous'' () means "falling off at maturity" and "tending to fall off", in reference to trees and shrubs that seasonally shed leaves, usually in the autumn; to the shedding of petals, ...

tree In botany, a tree is a perennial plant with an elongated stem, or trunk, usually supporting branches and leaves. In some usages, the definition of a tree may be narrower, including only woody plants with secondary growth, plants that are ...

growing to tall, with a trunk of up to in diameter. The crown is a highly distinctive vase-shape, with a short broad trunk dividing low down into numerous nearly erect branches. The leaves are alternate, long and broad, the margin bluntly serrated with 7–12 teeth on each side. The

flower A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants (plants of the division Angiospermae). The biological function of a flower is to facilitate reproduction, usually by providing a mechani ...

s are inconspicuous and greenish, with no petals, and are wind-pollinated. The

fruit In botany, a fruit is the seed-bearing structure in flowering plants that is formed from the ovary after flowering. Fruits are the means by which flowering plants (also known as angiosperms) disseminate their seeds. Edible fruits in particu ...

is a small

nutlet A nut is a fruit consisting of a hard or tough nutshell protecting a kernel which is usually edible. In general usage and in a culinary sense, a wide variety of dry seeds are called nuts, but in a botanical context "nut" implies that the shell ...

in diameter. It is grown as an ornamental tree in Europe (huge exemplars of it can be found quite often in the western

Georgian Georgian may refer to: Common meanings * Anything related to, or originating from Georgia (country) ** Georgians, an indigenous Caucasian ethnic group ** Georgian language, a Kartvelian language spoken by Georgians **Georgian scripts, three scrip ...

province of

Imereti Imereti ( Georgian: იმერეთი) is a region of Georgia situated in the central-western part of the republic along the middle and upper reaches of the Rioni River. Imereti is the most populous region in Georgia. It consists of 11 munic ...

, used for decorating courtyards in villages and providing pleasant shade) and more rarely in North America (where the related Japanese '' Z. serrata'' is more popular). ;Hybrid cultivars * ''Zelkova × verschaffeltii''

References

* Andrews, S. (1994). Tree of the year: Zelkova. ''Int. Dendrol. Soc. Yearbook'' 1993: 11-30. * Hunt, D. (1994). Beware of the Zelkova. ''Int. Dendrol. Soc. Yearbook'' 1993: 33-41. * Rushforth, K. (1999). ''Trees of Britain and Europe''. HarperCollins . {{Taxonbar, from=Q1737093 carpinifolia Trees of Western Asia Flora of Southeastern Europe