Dutch elm disease

American  

noun

1. a disease of elms characterized by wilting, yellowing, and falling of the leaves and caused by a fungus, Ceratostomella ulmi, transmitted by bark beetles.

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Dutch elm disease British  

noun

1. a disease of elm trees caused by the fungus Ceratocystis ulmi and characterized by withering of the foliage and stems and eventual death of the parts of the tree above ground

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Dutch elm disease Scientific  

/ dŭch /

1. A disease of elm trees caused by the fungus Ceratocystis ulmi, spread by the European elm bark beetle Scolytus multistriatus and by the contact of the roots of healthy elms with those of infected trees. It produces brown streaks in the wood and results in the eventual death of the tree. No cure has been discovered, but prevention methods include the injection of insecticide into healthy trees and the destruction of all elms in infected areas.

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Etymology

Origin of Dutch elm disease

First recorded in 1920–25

Example Sentences

Scientists had feared the ash would go the way of the elm, which has been almost wiped out by Dutch elm disease.

From BBC • Jun. 26, 2025

The ash trees of Iowa City, planted to replace elms felled by Dutch elm disease, are now succumbing in turn.

From New York Times • May 21, 2023

“You’ve got the American chestnut blight and the Dutch elm disease, but this seems extraordinarily rapid and severe.”

From Scientific American • Jul. 5, 2020

"You've got the American chestnut blight and the Dutch elm disease, but this seems extraordinarily rapid and severe."

From Salon • Jun. 7, 2020

Instead of a chestnut blight or Dutch elm disease or dogwood anthracnose, what if there was just a tree blight—something indiscriminate and unstoppable that swept through whole forests?

From "A Walk in the Woods" by Bill Bryson