| Ulmus 'Hertfordensis Latifolia' | |
|---|---|
| Genus | Ulmus |
| Cultivar | 'Hertfordensis Latifolia' |
| Origin | England |
The elm cultivar Ulmus 'Hertfordensis Latifolia' was listed by Loudon in Arboretum et Fruticetum Britannicum (1838) as "the broad-leaved Hertfordshire Elm", [1] and later mentioned, as Ulmus campestris hertfordensis latifolia, by Boulger in the Gardener's Chronicle (II. 12: 1879), but without description. [2] It was considered "probably U. carpinifolia" (:U. minor) by Green, [3] though broad leaves point to a possible Ulmus × hollandica hybrid identity. Hybrids of this type were once common in eastern Hertfordshire. [4] [5]
Loudon's "broad-leaved" epithet distinguished the tree from his narrow-leaved Hertfordshire elm, U. 'Hertfordensis Angustifolia'.
Though susceptible to Dutch Elm Disease, field elms (see Green's conjecture above) and their hybrids produce suckers and usually survive in this form in their area of origin.
The Woodland Trust records a small number of mature U. minor and Ulmus × hollandica surviving in Hertfordshire. [6]
The elm cultivar Ulmus 'Crispa' [:'curled', the leaf margin], sometimes known as the Fernleaf Elm, arose before 1800 and was first listed by Willdenow as U. crispa (1809). Audibert listed an U. campestrisLinn. 'Crispa', orme à feuilles crépues [:'frizzy-leaved elm'], in 1817, and an Ulmus urticaefolia [:'nettle-leaved elm'] in 1832; the latter is usually taken to be a synonym. Loudon considered the tree a variety of U. montana (1838). In the 19th century, Ulmus × hollandica cultivars, as well as those of Wych Elm, were often grouped under Ulmus montana. Elwes and Henry (1913) listed 'Crispa' as a form of wych elm, but made no mention of the non-wych samara.
The Field Elm cultivar Ulmus minor 'Propendens', described by Schneider in 1904 as U. glabra (:minor) var. suberosa propendens, Weeping Cork-barked elm, was said by Krüssmann (1976) to be synonymous with the U. suberosa pendula listed by Lavallée without description in 1877. Earlier still, Loudon's Arboretum et Fruticetum Britannicum had included an illustration of a pendulous "cork-barked field elm", U. campestris suberosa. An U. campestris suberosa pendula was in nurseries by the 1870s.
The Wych Elm cultivar Ulmus glabra 'Albo-Variegata' was first mentioned by Weston in 1770 as U. glabra var. variegata. An U. campestris latifolia albo-variegataHort. was distributed by the Späth nursery, Berlin, from the 1890s to the 1930s.
The putative Wych Elm cultivar Ulmus glabra 'Latifolia Nigricans' was first described, as Ulmus campestris latifolia nigricans, by Pynaert in 1879. Pynaert, however, did not specify what species he meant by U. campestris. The tree was supplied by the Späth nursery of Berlin in the late 19th century and early 20th as Ulmus montana latifolia nigricans. Späth, like many of his contemporaries, used U. montana both for Wych Elm cultivars and for those of the U. × hollandica group.
The dwarf wych elm cultivar Ulmus glabra 'Nana', a very slow growing shrub that with time forms a small tree, is of unknown origin. It was listed in the Simon-Louis 1869 catalogue as Ulmus montana nana. Henry (1913), referring his readers to an account of the Kew specimen in the journal Woods and Forests, 1884, suggested that it may have originated from a witch's broom. It is usually classified as a form of Ulmus glabra and is known widely as the 'Dwarf Wych Elm'. However, the ancestry of 'Nana' has been disputed in more recent years, Melville considering the specimen once grown at Kew to have been a cultivar of Ulmus × hollandica.
The Wych Elm cultivar Ulmus glabra 'Nigra', commonly known as the Black Irish Elm, was found in the Kilkenny area c.1770 by the father of nurseryman John Robertson of Kilkenny, who later cultivated it. Robertson stated that he had not seen the form outside Ireland. It was listed by Loddiges (1830) as Ulmus nigra, and described by Loudon in Arboretum et Fruticetum Britannicum (1838), as Ulmus montana nigra. 'Nigra' is not mentioned in either Elwes and Henry's or Bean's classic works on British trees.
The elm cultivar Ulmus 'Rugosa' [:'wrinkled', the leaves], was first listed in Audibert's Tonelle (1817), as "U. campestris Linn. 'Rugosa' = orme d'Avignon [Avignon elm] ", but without description. A description followed in the Revue horticole, 1829. Green (1964) identified this cultivar with one listed by Hartwig and Rümpler in Illustrirtes Gehölzbuch (1875) as Ulmus montana var. rugosaHort.. A cultivar of the same name appeared in Loddiges' catalogue of 1836 and was identified by Loudon in Arboretum et Fruticetum Britannicum (1838) as Ulmus montana var. rugosaMasters, Masters naming the tree maple-bark elm. Ulmus montana was used at the time both for wych cultivars and for some cultivars of the Ulmus × hollandica group.
The Field Elm cultivar Ulmus minor 'Concavaefolia' was briefly described by Loudon in Arboretum et Fruticetum Britannicum (1838), as Ulmus campestris var. concavaefolia. A fuller description followed in Petzold and Kirchner 's Arboretum Muscaviense (1864). Henry noted that Loudon's "insufficiently described" U. campestris var. concavaefolia seemed to be identical with the field elm cultivar 'Webbiana', a view repeated by Krüssmann.
The Field Elm cultivar Ulmus minor 'Cucullata', the Hooded elm, was listed by Loddiges of Hackney, London, in their catalogue of 1823 as Ulmus campestris cucullata, and later by Loudon in Arboretum et Fruticetum Britannicum (1838), as U. campestris var. cucullata.
The elm cultivar Ulmus 'Hertfordensis Angustifolia' was listed by Loudon in Arboretum et Fruticetum Britannicum (1838) as "the narrow-leaved Hertfordshire Elm", and later mentioned, as Ulmus campestris hertfordensis angustifolia, by Boulger in the Gardener's Chronicle, but without description. It was considered "probably U. carpinifolia" by Green.
The hybrid elm cultivar Ulmus × hollandica 'Superba' is one of a number of intermediate forms arising from the crossing of the Wych Elm U. glabra with a variety of Field Elm U. minor. Boulger tentatively (1881) and Green more confidently (1964) equated it with a hybrid elm cultivated in the UK by Masters at Canterbury in the early 19th century, known as "Masters' Canterbury Seedling" or simply the Canterbury Elm. Loudon examined a specimen sent by Masters and considered it a hybrid, calling it U. montana glabra major.
The hybrid elm Ulmus × hollandica 'Viscosa' is probably one of a number of cultivars arising from the crossing of the Wych Elm U. glabra with a variety of Field Elm U. minor. The tree was listed by Loddiges, in his catalogue of 1836 and two years later by Loudon in Arboretum et Fruticetum Britannicum 3: 1378, 1838, as U. viscosa. An early specimen in the Herbarium Dumortier named U. viscosaAudibert was later sunk by Melville as U. × hollandica.
The cultivar Ulmus 'Virens', the Kidbrook Elm, is an elm of unknown origin. It was first identified by Masters as U. virens in Hortus Duroverni 67, 1831, and later by Loudon in Arboretum et Fruticetum Britannicum, 3: 1376, 1838, as U. campestris virens. Described in some detail by Elwes & Henry (1913) as a form of Field Elm but classified as U. × hollandica by Green, the tree is not mentioned in Bean's classic works on British trees.
The putative Wych Elm cultivar Ulmus glabra 'Latifolia' was identified in Audibert's Tonelle (1817) as U. campestrisLinn. [ = U. glabraHuds.] latifolia. The tree is reputed to have originated circa 1750 in or around Mechelen, and to have been widely planted throughout Belgium. A 1912 herbarium specimen from Oudenbosch, however, shows a hybrid leaf labelled Ulmus hollandica latifolia.
The possible Field Elm cultivar U. minor 'Planifolia' was listed by Loudon in Arboretum et Fruticetum Britannicum (1838) as Ulmus campestris (:minor) var. planifolia, the flat-leaved elm. Green opined that the species was uncertain.
Ulmus glabra 'Australis' is a Wych Elm cultivar described by Loudon in 1838, from a tree in the Royal Horticultural Society garden, as U. montana var. australisHort..
The Field Elm cultivar Ulmus minor 'Viminalis Betulaefolia' (:'birch-leaved') is an elm tree of uncertain origin. An U. betulaefolia was listed by Loddiges of Hackney, London, in the catalogue of 1836, an U. campestris var. betulaefolia by Loudon in Arboretum et Fruticetum Britannicum (1838), and an U. betulifoliaBooth by the Lawson nursery of Edinburgh. Henry described an U. campestris var. betulaefolia at Kew in 1913, obtained from Fulham nurseryman Osborne in 1879, as "scarcely different from var. viminalis ". Melville considered the tree so named at Kew a form of his U. × viminalis, while Bean (1988), describing U. 'Betulaefolia', likewise placed it under U. 'Viminalis' as an apparently allied tree. Loudon and Browne had noted that some forms of 'Viminalis' can be mistaken for a variety of birch. An U. campestris betulaefolia was distributed by Hesse's Nurseries, Weener, Germany, in the 1930s.
The field elm cultivar Ulmus minor 'Viminalis' (:'willow-like'), occasionally referred to as the twiggy field elm, was raised by Masters in 1817, and listed in 1831 as U. campestris viminalis, without description. Loudon added a general description in 1838, and the Cambridge University Herbarium acquired a leaf specimen of the tree in 1866. Moss, writing in 1912, said that the Ulmus campestris viminalis from Cambridge University Herbarium was the only elm he thought agreed with the original Plot's elm as illustrated by Dr. Plot in 1677 from specimens growing in an avenue and coppice at Hanwell near Banbury. Elwes and Henry (1913) also considered Loudon's Ulmus campestris viminalis to be Dr Plot's elm. Its 19th-century name, U. campestris var. viminalis, led the cultivar to be classified for a time as a variety of English Elm. On the Continent, 'Viminalis' was the Ulmus antarcticaHort., 'zierliche Ulme' [:'dainty elm'] of Kirchner's Arboretum Muscaviense (1864).
The wych elm cultivar Ulmus glabraHuds. 'Superba', Blandford Elm, with unusually large leaves, was raised by Gill's of Blandford Forum, Dorset, in the early 1840s as Ulmus montana superba and was quickly distributed to other UK nurseries. It was confirmed as a form of wych, and first described by Lindley in The Gardeners' Chronicle, 1845, later descriptions being added by Gill (1845) and Morren (1848), who called it U. montana var. superba. Morren had adopted the name 'Superba' from the Fulham nurseryman Osborne in 1844, who supplied him with the tree – presumably one of the nurseries supplied by Gill. Morren states that 'Superba', already in cultivation in England, was introduced to Belgium by Denis Henrard of Saint Walburge, Liège, that in 1848 it had been present in Belgium for only three years, and that this variety was the one described as 'Superba' by Osborne, whom Henrard had visited at his nursery in Fulham in September 1844. 'Blandford Elm', with leaves of the same dimensions, was soon for sale in the USA.