Ulmus elliptica

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Ulmus elliptica
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
(disputed)
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Rosales
Family: Ulmaceae
Genus: Ulmus
Species:
U. elliptica
Binomial name
Ulmus elliptica
Synonyms
  • Ulmus HeyderiSpäth (disputed)

Ulmus ellipticaKoch (named for the elliptic samara [1] ) is a disputed species of elm, native to the Caucasus, where Koch reported (1849, 1872) that it formed extensive woods, and ranging north to southern Ukraine. [2] [3] The tree reminded Koch of the elm then called Ulmus majorSmith, except in its samara. Others thought it closely related to U. glabra, but to resemble U. rubra in its samara (see Description below). Many authorities consider U. ellipticaKoch just a regional form of U. glabra, [4] though Henry, Bean and Krüssman list the Caucasus tree as a species in its own right. [5] [notes 1] [6] [7] U. ellipticaKoch is likewise distinguished from U. scabraMill. [:U. glabraHuds.] in some Armenian and Russian plant lists. [8] [9]

Contents

For a time, the Späth nursery, Berlin, distributed a disputed cultivar, U. Heyderi, as a synonym of U. ellipticaKoch (see Cultivation below).

Description

U. elliptica, in Koch's description (1849), has smooth shoots, oblong acuminate double-toothed leaves unequal at base, with upper surface roughly hairy and lower covered with dense fine hairs, and a short petiole; clustered flowers on long stalks, with five-lobed fringed perianth and five stamens; and elliptic samara, not fringed with hairs, with pilose seed. Koch added that U. elliptica appeared "close to Ulmus majorSmith, but differing in its elliptical samara with a hairy centre". [2]

U. elliptica was said by Henry to resemble U. glabra in size, form, leaf, petiole and branchlets, but to resemble U. rubra in its samara, pubescent only over the seed. Henry noted one other difference from U. glabra – a smooth leaf – and two differences from U. rubra, the samara of the latter being "much smaller" than that of U. elliptica, and the branchlets of the latter having tubercles where those of U. elliptica are smooth. Bean added that U. elliptica differed from U. glabra in the "rusty hairs on the buds and the ciliate leaves" and from U. rubra in having less fissured bark, thinner and more sharply toothed leaves, and "more elongate" samarae. Krüssman gives the leaf-size of U. elliptica as 8–14 cm long.

Pests and diseases

Unknown.

Cultivation

U. Heyderi, Späth's cultivar name for U. ellipticaKoch, appeared in the nursery's catalogues from 1882 as U. Heyderii (later changed to Heyderi), "a new elm from Turkestan". [10] It was described as having "large, long, rough, downy leaves". [11] One tree was planted in 1896 as U. elliptica, Koch; syns. U. Heyderi, Spaeth; U. sibirica, Hort., at the Dominion Arboretum, Ottawa, Canada. [12] Späth supplied the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh in 1902 with three specimens each of U. fulva [:U. rubra] and U. Heyderi. The latter may survive in Edinburgh, as it was the practice of the Garden to distribute trees about the city (viz. the Wentworth Elm); [13] the current list of Living Accessions held in the Garden per se does not list the plant. [14] A tree listed as U. elliptica stood in the Ryston Hall arboretum, Norfolk, [15] in the early 20th century. [16]

Henry, stressing the differences between U. elliptica and U. rubra, held (1913) that Späth's U. Heyderi was, by some error, U. rubra. He believed that U. ellipticaKoehne (1893) [17] was described from Späth's U. Heyderi, not from the Caucasus species, and that the U. elliptica of Koehne (1893), of Schneider (1904), and of Ascherson and Graebner (1911), was U. fulva [: U. rubra]. Späth's 1903 catalogue, indeed, queried whether U. Heyderi was after all synonymous with U. ellipticaKoch. [11] By 1930 he had removed U. Heyderi from his catalogue but added U. ellipticaKoch, as a tree from the Causasus. [1] Krussman (1983) concluded that the cultivation status of U. ellipticaKoch / U. Heyderi was uncertain, since it had been confused with U. rubra. Green in his 'Registration of cultivar names in Ulmus' ignored U. Heyderi, as a species synonym. [18]

Etymology

The origin of the cultivar name 'Heyderii' or 'Heyderi' is unknown, though the tree may be named for Eduard Heyder (1808-1884) of Berlin, remembered for Aloe heyderi. [19]

Synonymy

Accessions

North America

Notes

  1. U. elliptica is discussed under the U. fulva heading in Elwes & Henry (1913).

Related Research Articles

<i>Ulmus rubra</i> Species of tree

Ulmus rubra, the slippery elm, is a species of elm native to eastern North America. Other common names include red elm, gray elm, soft elm, moose elm, and Indian elm.

<i>Ulmus</i> Exoniensis Elm cultivar

Ulmus 'Exoniensis', the Exeter elm, was discovered near Exeter, England, in 1826, and propagated by the Ford & Please nursery in that city. Traditionally believed to be a cultivar of the Wych Elm U. glabra, its fastigiate shape when young, upward-curving tracery, small samarae and leaves, late leaf-flush and late leaf-fall, taken with its south-west England provenance, suggest a link with the Cornish Elm, which shares these characteristics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ulmus glabra 'Horizontalis'</span> Elm cultivar

The Wych Elm cultivar Ulmus glabra 'Horizontalis', commonly known as the Weeping Wych Elm or Horizontal Elm, was discovered in a Perth nursery circa 1816. The tree was originally identified as 'Pendula' by Loddiges (London), in his catalogue of 1836, a name adopted by Loudon two years later in Arboretum et Fruticetum Britannicum, 3: 1398, 1838, but later sunk as a synonym for 'Horizontalis'.

The elm cultivar Ulmus 'Atropurpurea' [:dark purple] was raised from seed at the Späth nursery in Berlin, Germany, circa 1881, as Ulmus montana atropurpurea, and was marketed there till the 1930s, being later classed as a cultivar by Boom. Henry (1913) included it under Ulmus montana cultivars but noted that it was "very similar to and perhaps identical with" Ulmus purpureaHort. At Kew it was renamed U. glabraHuds. 'Atropurpurea', but Späth used U. montana both for wych elm and for some U. × hollandica hybrids, so his name does not necessarily imply a wych elm cultivar. The Hesse Nursery of Weener, Germany, however, which marketed 'Atropurpurea' in the 1950s, listed it in later years as a form of U. glabraHuds..

<i>Ulmus</i> Purpurea Elm cultivar

The elm cultivar Ulmus 'Purpurea', the purple-leaved elm, was listed and described as Ulmus Stricta Purpurea, the 'Upright Purpled-leaved Elm', by John Frederick Wood, F.H.S., in The Midland Florist and Suburban Horticulturist (1851), as Ulmus purpureaHort. by Wesmael (1863), and as Ulmus campestris var. purpurea, syn. Ulmus purpureaHort. by Petzold and Kirchner in Arboretum Muscaviense (1864). Koch's description followed (1872), the various descriptions appearing to tally. Henry (1913) noted that the Ulmus campestris var. purpureaPetz. & Kirchn. grown at Kew as U. montana var. purpurea was "probably of hybrid origin", Ulmus montana being used at the time both for wych elm cultivars and for some of the U. × hollandica group. His description of Kew's U. montana var. purpurea matches that of the commonly-planted 'Purpurea' of the 20th century. His discussion of it (1913) under U. campestris, however, his name for English Elm, may be the reason why 'Purpurea' is sometimes erroneously called U. procera 'Purpurea' (as in USA and Sweden.

<i>Ulmus glabra</i> Cornuta Elm cultivar

The Wych Elm cultivar Ulmus glabra 'Cornuta', in cultivation before 1845 – Fontaine (1968) gives its provenance as France, 1835 – is a little-known tree, finally identified as a cultivar of U. glabra by Boom in Nederlandse Dendrologie 1: 157, 1959.

<i>Ulmus</i> Crispa Elm cultivar

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.

<i>Ulmus</i> × <i>hollandica</i> Serpentina Elm cultivar

The putative hybrid cultivar Ulmus × hollandica 'Serpentina' is an elm of unknown provenance and doubtful status. Henry identified it as intermediate between U. glabra and U. minor, a view accepted by Bean and by Melville, who believed that the specimens at Kew bearing the name 'Serpentina' were U. glabra "introgressed by U. carpinifolia" [: U. minor] and were similar to but "distinct from 'Camperdownii'".

<i>Ulmus minor</i> Propendens Elm cultivar

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.

<i>Ulmus minor</i> Rueppellii Elm cultivar

Ulmus minor 'Rueppellii' is a Field Elm cultivar said to have been introduced to Europe from Tashkent by the Späth nursery, Berlin. Noted in 1881 as a 'new elm', it was listed in Späth Catalogue 73, p. 124, 1888–89, and in subsequent catalogues, as Ulmus campestris Rueppelli, and later by Krüssmann as a cultivar.

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.

<i>Ulmus glabra</i> Nana Elm cultivar

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 Elm cultivar Ulmus 'Tiliaefolia' was first mentioned by Host in Flora Austriaca (1827), as Ulmus tiliaefolia [:linden-leaved]. The Späth nursery of Berlin distributed a 'Tiliaefolia' from the late 19th century to the 1930s as neither an U. montana hybrid nor a field elm cultivar, but simply as Ulmus tiliaefolia, suggesting uncertainty about its status. Herbarium specimens appear to show two clones, one smaller-leaved and classified as a field elm cultivar, the other larger-leaved.

<i>Ulmus</i> × <i>hollandica</i> Superba Elm cultivar

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.

<i>Ulmus</i> Scampstoniensis Elm cultivar

The elm cultivar Ulmus 'Scampstoniensis', the Scampston Elm or Scampston Weeping Elm, is said to have come from Scampston Hall, Yorkshire, England, before 1810. Loudon opined that a tree of the same name at the Royal Horticultural Society's Garden in 1834, 18 feet (5.5 m) high at 8 years old "differed little from the species". Henry described the tree, from a specimen growing in Victoria Park, Bath, as "a weeping form of U. nitens" [:Ulmus minor ]; however Green considered it "probably a form of Ulmus × hollandica". Writing in 1831, Loudon said that the tree was supposed to have originated in America. U. minor is not, however, an American species, so if the tree was brought from America, it must originally have been taken there from Europe. There was an 'American Plantation' at Scampston, which may be related to this supposition. A number of old specimens of 'Scampstoniensis' in this plantation were blown down in a great gale of October 1881; younger specimens were still present at Scampston in 1911.

<i>Ulmus</i> × <i>hollandica</i> Wentworthii Pendula Elm cultivar

Ulmus × hollandica 'Wentworthii Pendula', commonly known as the Wentworth Elm or Wentworth Weeping Elm, is a cultivar with a distinctive weeping habit that appears to have been introduced to cultivation towards the end of the 19th century. The tree is not mentioned in either Elwes and Henry's or Bean's classic works on British trees. The earliest known references are Dutch and German, the first by de Vos in Handboek tot de praktische kennis der voornaamste boomen (1890). At about the same time, the tree was offered for sale by the Späth nursery of Berlin as Ulmus Wentworthi pendulaHort.. The 'Hort.' in Späth's 1890 catalogue, without his customary label "new", confirms that the tree was by then in nurseries as a horticultural elm. De Vos, writing in 1889, states that the Supplement to Volume 1 includes entries announced since the main volume in 1887, putting the date of introduction between 1887 and 1889.

<i>Ulmus minor</i> Suberosa Elm cultivar

The Field Elm cultivar Ulmus minor 'Suberosa', commonly known as the Cork-barked elm, is a slow-growing or dwarf form of conspicuously suberose Field Elm. Of disputed status, it is considered a distinct variety by some botanists, among them Henry (1913), Krüssmann (1984), and Bean (1988), and is sometimes cloned and planted as a cultivar. Henry said the tree "appears to be a common variety in the forests of central Europe", Bean noting that it "occurs in dry habitats". By the proposed rule that known or suspected clones of U. minor, once cultivated and named, should be treated as cultivars, the tree would be designated U. minor 'Suberosa'. The Späth nursery of Berlin distributed an U. campestris suberosa alataKirchn. [:'corky-winged'] from the 1890s to the 1930s.

<i>Ulmus</i> Fastigiata Glabra Elm cultivar

The elm cultivar Ulmus 'Fastigiata Glabra' was distributed by the Späth nursery, Berlin, in the 1890s and early 1900s as U. montana fastigiata glabra. Späth used U. montana both for cultivars of wych elm and for those of some U. × hollandica hybrids like 'Dampieri'. A specimen of U. montana fastigiata glabra in the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh was determined by Melville in 1958 as a hybrid of the U. × hollandica group.

<i>Ulmus</i> Glabra Elm cultivar

The elm cultivar Ulmus 'Glabra' was distributed by the Späth nursery, Berlin, in the 1890s and early 1900s as U. glabraMill.. Not to be confused with the species U. glabraHuds..

<i>Ulmus glabra</i> Concavaefolia Elm cultivar

The Wych Elm cultivar Ulmus glabra 'Concavaefolia', a form with up-curling leaves, was listed in Beissner's Handbuch der Laubholz-Benennung (1903) as Ulmus montana cucullataHort. [:'hooded', the leaf], a synonym of the Ulmus scabraMill. [:glabraHuds.] var. concavaefolia of herbarium specimens. An Ulmus campestris cucullata, of uncertain species, had appeared in Loddiges' 1823 list, but Loudon's brief description (1838) of concave- and hooded-leaved elms was insufficient for later botanists to distinguish them. The earliest unambiguous description appears to be that of Petzold and Kirchner in Arboretum Muscaviense (1864).

References

  1. 1 2 Späth, Ludwig (1930). Späth-Buch, 1720-1930. Berlin: Self published. pp. 311–313, 351–352.
  2. 1 2 Koch, Karl (1849). "Beitrage zu einer Flora des Orientes". Linnaea. 22: 599.
  3. Koch, Karl (1872). Dendrologie; Bäume, Sträucher und Halbsträucher, welche in Mittel- und Nord- Europa im Freien kultivirt werden. Vol. 2. p. 420.
  4. Richens, R. H., Elm (Cambridge 1983), p.279
  5. Elwes, Henry John; Henry, Augustine (1913). The Trees of Great Britain & Ireland. Vol. 7. pp. 1863–1864.
  6. Bean, W. J. (1988) Trees and shrubs hardy in Great Britain, 8th edition, Murray, London
  7. Krüssman, Gerd, Manual of Cultivated Broad-Leaved Trees & Shrubs (1984 vol. 3)
  8. "VII. ՀԱՅԱՍՏԱՆԻ ՀԱՆՐԱՊԵՏՈՒԹՅՈՒՆՈՒՄ ԱՃՈՂ ԾԱՌԵՐԻ ԵՎ ԹՓԵՐԻ" [VII. Growing of trees and shrubs] (in Armenian). 26 November 2011. Retrieved 22 September 2016.
  9. agbina.com/site.xp/053051057124049053049048.html
  10. Späth Baumschulen, catalogue 1882-3; p.2
  11. 1 2 Katalog (PDF). Vol. 108. Berlin, Germany: L. Späth Baumschulenweg. 1902–1903. pp. 132–133.
  12. Saunders, William; Macoun, William Tyrrell (1899). Catalogue of the trees and shrubs in the arboretum and botanic gardens at the central experimental farm (2 ed.). pp. 74–75.
  13. Accessions book. Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh. 1902. pp. 45, 47.
  14. "List of Living Accessions: Ulmus". Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh. Retrieved 21 September 2016.
  15. rystonhall.co.uk/
  16. Ryston Hall Arboretum catalogue. c. 1920. pp. 13–14.
  17. Koehne, Bernhard Adalbert Emil (1893). Deutsche Dendrologie. p. 136.
  18. Green, Peter Shaw (1964). "Registration of cultivar names in Ulmus". Arnoldia. Arnold Arboretum, Harvard University. 24 (6–8): 41–80. Retrieved 16 February 2017.
  19. Eggli, Urs; Newton, Leonard E. (29 June 2013). Etymological Dictionary of Succulent Plant Names. ISBN   9783662071250.