It may be an Elm from America, but is not Ulmus americana, leaf 3 to 8" long.
The leaves have downsized since I collected it, but yes, they were much bigger when the tree was much bigger.
I took almost a solid 5 feet off the top, and this is what's budded back since then, then again when I cut that back to encourage budding lower down for sacrificials. So late in the year and a pot of mostly gravel doing god-knows-what to the roots below, yeah, the leaves didn't come back full sized last time.
It's actually a little concerning as far as the challenge goes, because I can't imagine smaller leaves wouldn't effect the rate of growth. I had hoped that the enormous pot would allow fairly free growth, but I think a growing medium of gravel might be slowing it down all over again. Guess I'll know for sure come spring.
But if, perchance, you're right and I've misidentified it, I'll know for sure about other trees to replace it come spring.
Aren’t you worried about Dutch elm disease?
Well, I wasn't until now!
LOL
Actually, we're in a climate just arid enough that many fungal type infections are not a major concern, but I have already spotted tiny little beetles on it, so I'll be keeping an eye on that come spring. For now, we're anticipating out first hard freeze before too long. That'll hopefully clean out much of the vermin, then I might be able to keep them from coming back with a little bit of care.