American elm vs elm

American elm and elm both are nouns.

Word	Noun	Adjective	Verb	Adverb
American elm	Yes	No	No	No
elm	Yes	No	No	No

As nouns, elm is a hypernym of American elm; that is, elm is a word with a broader meaning than American elm:

American elm: large ornamental tree with graceful gradually spreading branches common in eastern North America
elm: any of various trees of the genus Ulmus: important timber or shade trees

Other hypernyms of American elm include elm tree.

American elm (noun)	elm (noun)
large ornamental tree with graceful gradually spreading branches common in eastern North America	any of various trees of the genus Ulmus: important timber or shade trees
	hard tough wood of an elm tree; used for e.g. implements and furniture