Dutch elm disease

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.

Dutch elm disease

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

Dutch elm disease

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.

Word History and Origins

Origin of Dutch elm disease¹

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.

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But Dutch elm disease, an invasive fungus spread by bark beetles to which the native trees had no defense, has decimated the elm by tens of millions across the continent.

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

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In the middle of the 20th Century, three species of another fungi under the genus Ophiostoma swept through North America and Europe, sickening trees with what's known as Dutch elm disease.

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Ms Franklin said: "The Beauly elm has succumbed to Dutch elm disease."

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