[2] It is also considered possible that the tree may have survived the ice ages on lands to the south of Cornwall long since lost to the sea.

[6][7] Growing to a height of up to 27 metres (89 ft) in sheltered situations (in exposed situations it is usually half the size),[8] the Cornish elm is a slender, slow-growing deciduous tree, distinguished by its long, straight trunk, which culminates in a narrow fan-shaped crown comprising short, straight, ascending branches.

A survey of Cornish elms in County Cork, Ireland (2007), found some variation in smoothness or roughness of leaf-surface and in basal asymmetry.

[21] The locations of notable plantings of Cornish elm, both in Cornwall and beyond, are listed in Henry (1913),[4] Richens (1983),[2] and Mitchell (1996).

[24] Two specimens survive in Edinburgh (2019), an old tree in Dean Gardens,[25] and a younger by Greenside Church, Calton Hill.

[33][34] As of 2011[update], the Woodland Trust lists only one verified mature Cornish elm surviving in Cornwall, a specimen 1.89 metres (6.2 ft) in girth at Tregoose near Helston.

[35] A large specimen with a forked trunk stands in Castletownbere Cemetery in County Cork, Ireland,[15] with a bole-girth (2007) of 450 cm (making it about 150 years old), a height of 25 m and a crown diameter of 20 m, along with a small number of younger Cornish elms with an average d.b.h.

Henry stated that the "beautiful narrow pyramidal tree" he had seen by that name in Späth's nursery differed from true Cornish elm, bearing instead "leaves similar in size and appearance to a common form of U. nitens" [:U.

In 1958 Melville likewise queried Späth's Cornish elm (see External links below, herbarium specimen E00824799); Edward Kemp, however, RBGE curator (1950–71), accepted it.

[52] Moss in The Cambridge British Flora (1914) noted that 'Hunnybunii pseudo-Stricta' was sometimes propagated in error for Cornish elm, Ulmus minor 'Stricta'.

[58] The latter illustrates Gerald Wilkinson's observation that "In its normal habitat the Cornish elm often has a flat, wind-cut top".