A xylanolytic and phosphate-solubilizing bacterium isolated from sawdust of Ulmus nigra in Salamanca was characterized by a polyphasic approach. The novel strain, designated XIL02(T), was Gram-positive, aerobic, catalase- and oxidase-negative, rod-shaped and non-motile. Phylogenetically and chemotaxonomically, it was related to members of the genus Microbacterium. According to 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis, it is closely related to Microbacterium arborescens and Microbacterium imperiale however, DNA-DNA hybridization showed reassociation values less than 70 % with the type strains of these species. In chemotaxonomic analyses, the major menaquinones detected were MK-12, MK-13 and MK-11 and the major fatty acids were anteiso-C(15 : 0), anteiso-C(17 : 0) and iso-C(16 : 0) the peptidoglycan was of the type B2beta. The G+C content determined was 69 mol%. Based on the present data, it is proposed that strain XIL02(T) (=LMG 20991(T)=CECT 5976(T)) be classified as the type strain of a novel Microbacterium species, for which the name Microbacterium ulmi sp. nov. is proposed.