Elm-entary evolution.

A group of saplings growing in an Ohio meadow represent what researchers hope will be a brighter future for America's beloved but almost vanished American elm.

Researchers in Ohio are clustering seedlings grown from the few, scattered trees that have recovered from Dutch elm disease, according to an Associated Press story. They hope the trees will cross-pollinate in the wild, staving off the disease in future generations of the species.

Jim Slavicek, a geneticist at the U.S. Forest Service research station, told the Associated Press, "The American elm is part of our heritage, and through this project we hope to make it part of our legacy."

Before the onslaught of Dutch elm disease, American elms were a beloved urban tree thanks to their leafy canopy and ability to tolerate air pollution, road salt, and extremes in weather. Dutch elm disease killed an estimated 90 percent of the American elms in the United States. Today, a few U.S. cities, such as Minneapolis and Washington, DC, are vigilant about protecting their remaining trees. Many of the diseased American elms are injected with fungicide, quickly pruned, or are removed.

The few elm giants still standing in the United States are likely not immune, just lucky, Slavicek said in the article. The national champion American elm, in Buckley. Michigan, died from Dutch elm last spring.

The national champ was "112 feet tall and had a 115-foot-wide canopy, creating the false hope that size made it invincible," says Deborah Gangloff, executive director of AMERICAN FORESTS. "Surviving trees should be protected. but genetic research is needed to preserve the future of the species."

The U.S. Department of Agriculture screened about 100,000 trees that survived the epidemic, but identified few that naturally tolerate the disease. Slavicek is planting five tolerant types. The lab wall grow clones from those trees and test them again in a few years to confirm the results are due to genes and not the environment.