Ulmus minor subsp. minor

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Ulmus minor subsp. minor
East Coker elm, 2.jpg
Smooth-leaved elm at East Coker, Somerset, 2008
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Rosales
Family: Ulmaceae
Genus: Ulmus
Species:
Subspecies:
U. m. subsp. minor
Trinomial name
Ulmus minor subsp. minor
Synonyms
  • Ulmus campestris var. laevisSpach, Planch.
  • Ulmus campestris var. glabraHartig, Planch., Aschers. & Graebn.
  • Ulmus carpinifoliaGled.
  • Ulmus foliaceaeGilibert, Sarg.
  • Ulmus glabra(non Huds.), Ley, Mill., Smith, Loudon, Rchb., Wilkomm, C. K. Schneid.
  • Ulmus micranthaKitt.
  • Ulmus microphyllaMill.
  • Ulmus nitensMoench
  • Ulmus sparsaDumrt.

Ulmus minor subsp. minor, the narrow-leaved elm (also known as smooth-leaved elm or East Anglian elm), was the name used by R. H. Richens (1983) for English field elms that were not English elm, Cornish elm, Lock elm or Guernsey elm. [1] Many publications, however, continue to use plain Ulmus minor for Richens's subspecies, a name Richens reserved for the undifferentiated continental field elms. [2] (Ulmus minor is native to southern Europe and Asia Minor including Iran.) Dr Max Coleman of Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh argued in his 2002 paper 'British Elms' that there was no clear distinction between species and subspecies. [3]

Contents

In England, narrow-leaved elm is the commonest field elm in East Anglia, the East Midlands, and eastern Kent. [4] [5]

Description

The smooth-leaved elm is a deciduous tree that can grow to 35 m. Its Latin synonym carpinifolia alludes to the superficial similarity of the leaves to those of hornbeam Carpinus sp., while the common names contrast the smooth upper surface and narrowness of the leaves with those of the wych elm, which are rough and broad. [6] [7] The apetalous perfect wind-pollinated flowers, and fruit (samaras) are very similar to those of the species.

Pests and diseases

Although the smooth-leaved elm is generally susceptible to Dutch elm disease, it is genetically a highly variable tree and it is possible some specimens survive in the UK owing to an innately high level of resistance (see Cultivation). Research currently (2009) in hand by Cemagref at Le Pepiniére forestiére de l'Etat, Guémené-Penfao, France, should confirm this. However, all smooth-leaved elm varieties are believed to have been introduced into Britain from central and southern Europe during the Bronze Age, [8] and some, being beyond their natural climates and environments, may be growing slowly and thus producing smaller springwood vessels restrictive to the Ophiostoma fungus. Good performance in the field may also be owing to resistance to bark beetle feeding or breeding. Moreover, several types of this subspecies also have very pendulous twigs when mature, a factor which could also make them unattractive to foraging Scolytus beetles, which are disinclined to invert themselves. [9]

As the tree suckers readily, its genetic resources are not considered endangered. [10]

The subspecies has a moderate to high susceptibility to the elm leaf beetle, Xanthogaleruca luteola, and a moderate susceptibility to elm yellows. [11]

Cultivation

Four great East Anglian elms, Ulmus minor subsp. minor, tower over an oak (left) and a two-storey house, Badingham, Suffolk, 1984 Dutch Elm Disease strikes Badingham - geograph.org.uk - 1288154.jpg
Four great East Anglian elms, Ulmus minor subsp. minor, tower over an oak (left) and a two-storey house, Badingham, Suffolk, 1984

Many mature specimens still survive in England, notably in East Anglia. [12] [13] [14] The Woodland Trust currently lists (2013) some 120 surviving "ancient" smooth-leaved elms in England and Wales, [15] some of which are among the elms now being cloned, propagated and planted as part of The Conservation Foundation's 'Great British Elm Experiment' and 'Ulmus londinium' projects, a scheme to identify disease-resistant strains and return elms to city and countryside. [16] [17] [18] Among "varieties with most resistance", Professor Oliver Rackham noted (1986) the 'Boxworth elm', [19] still thriving (2022) [20] in and around Boxworth, Cambridgeshire, [21] and from c.2010 propagated experimentally by the Conservation Foundation. [22]

In a more academically-based project, most of the clones of the surviving European field elms that have been tested since the 1990s for innate resistance to Dutch elm disease by national research institutes in the EU, with a view to returning field elm to cultivation in Europe, [23] would be classified by Richens’s system as Ulmus minor subsp. minor. Results from Spain (2013), for example, confirm that a very small number of surviving field elms (about 0.5% of those tested) appear to have comparatively high levels of tolerance of the disease, and it is hoped that a controlled crossing of the best of these will produce resistant Ulmus minor hybrids for cultivation. [24]

Narrow-leaved elm was occasionally planted as an ornamental urban tree.

Notable trees

The largest recorded tree in the UK grew at Great Amwell in Hertfordshire, measuring 40 m in height and 228 cm diameter at breast height (d.b.h.) in 1911. [30] Another famous specimen was the great elm that towered above its two siblings at the bottom of Long Melford Green, Long Melford, Suffolk, [31] till the group succumbed to disease in 1978. The three "were survivors of a former clone of at least nine elms, one dating from 1757". [32] The Long Melford elms were painted in 1940 by the watercolourist S. R. Badmin in his 'Long Melford Green on a Frosty Morning', now in the Victoria and Albert Museum. [33]

The largest known surviving trees are at East Coker, Somerset (30 m high, 95 cm d.b.h.), Termitts Farm near Hatfield Peverel, Essex (25 m high, 145 d.b.h.), [34] and Melchbourne, Bedfordshire, (147 cm d.b.h.). [35]

Cultivars

Hybrids and hybrid cultivars

The tree's natural range in eastern England overlaps with that of wych elm ( Ulmus glabra ), the two species hybridizing to produce elms of the Ulmus × hollandica group. Nursery cultivars in this group with English U. minor subsp. minor in their parentage include 'Vegeta', 'Cicestria', and 'Smithii'.

U. minor subsp. minor is believed to have hybridized also with Plot's elm to create elms of the Ulmus × viminalis group, presumed source of the cultivar 'Viminalis' or 'Antarctica'.

Accessions

North America

Europe

Related Research Articles

<i>Ulmus minor</i> Atinia "Hybrid species, the English elm"

The field elm cultivar 'Atinia' , commonly known as the English elm, formerly common elm and horse may, and more lately the Atinian elm was, before the spread of Dutch elm disease, the most common field elm in central southern England, though not native there, and one of the largest and fastest-growing deciduous trees in Europe. R. H. Richens noted that elm populations exist in north-west Spain and northern Portugal, and on the Mediterranean coast of France that "closely resemble the English elm" and appear to be "trees of long standing" in those regions rather than recent introductions. Augustine Henry had earlier noted that the supposed English elms planted extensively in the Royal Park at Aranjuez from the late 16th century onwards, specimens said to have been introduced from England by Philip II and "differing in no respects from the English elm in England", behaved as native trees in Spain. He suggested that the tree "may be a true native of Spain, indigenous in the alluvial plains of the great rivers, now almost completely deforested".

<i>Ulmus minor</i> Species of plant

Ulmus minorMill., the field elm, is by far the most polymorphic of the European species, although its taxonomy remains a matter of contention. Its natural range is predominantly south European, extending to Asia Minor and Iran; its northern outposts are the Baltic islands of Öland and Gotland, although it may have been introduced by humans. The tree's typical habitat is low-lying forest along the main rivers, growing in association with oak and ash, where it tolerates summer floods as well as droughts.

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

The field elm cultivar Ulmus minor 'Stricta', known as Cornish elm, was commonly found in South West England, Brittany, and south-west Ireland, until the arrival of Dutch elm disease in the late 1960s. The origin of Cornish elm in England remains a matter of contention. It is commonly assumed to have been introduced from Brittany. It is also considered possible that the tree may have survived the ice ages on lands to the south of Cornwall long since lost to the sea. Henry thought it "probably native in the south of Ireland". Dr Max Coleman of Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, arguing in his 2002 paper on British elms that there was no clear distinction between species and subspecies, suggested that known or suspected clones of Ulmus minor, once cultivated and named, should be treated as cultivars, preferred the designation U. minor 'Stricta' to Ulmus minor var. stricta. The DNA of 'Stricta' has been investigated and the cultivar is now known to be a clone.

<i>Ulmus minor</i> Plotii Cultivar of the field elm

The field elm cultivar Ulmus minor 'Plotii', commonly known as Lock elm or Lock's elm, Plot's elm or Plot elm, and first classified as Ulmus sativaMill. var. Lockii and later as Ulmus plotii by Druce in 1907-11, is endemic mainly to the East Midlands of England, notably around the River Witham in Lincolnshire, in the Trent Valley around Newark-on-Trent, and around the village of Laxton, Northamptonshire. Ronald Melville suggested that the tree's distribution may be related to river valley systems, in particular those of the Trent, Witham, Welland, and Nene. Two further populations existed in Gloucestershire. It has been described as Britain's rarest native elm, and recorded by The Wildlife Trust as a nationally scarce species.

<i>Ulmus minor</i> Sarniensis Cultivar of the field elm

The Field Elm cultivar Ulmus minor 'Sarniensis', known variously as Guernsey elm, Jersey elm, Wheatley elm, or Southampton elm, was first described by MacCulloch in 1815 from trees on Guernsey, and was planted in the Royal Horticultural Society's gardens in the 1820s. It was listed in the Loddiges catalogue of 1836 as Ulmus sarniensis and by Loudon in Hortus lignosus londinensis (1838) as U. campestris var. sarniensis. The origin of the tree remains obscure; Richens believed it "a mutant of a French population of Field elm", noting that "elms of similar leaf-form occur in Cotentin and in northern Brittany. They vary much in habit but some have a tendency to pyramidal growth. Whether the distinctive habit first developed on the mainland or in Guernsey is uncertain."

<i>Ulmus <span style="font-style:normal;">×</span> hollandica</i> Dutch elm

Ulmus × hollandicaMill. , often known simply as Dutch elm, is a natural hybrid between Wych elm and field elm Ulmus minor which commonly occurs across Europe wherever the ranges of the parent species overlap. In England, according to the field-studies of R. H. Richens, "The largest area [of hybridization] is a band extending across Essex from the Hertfordshire border to southern Suffolk. The next largest is in northern Bedfordshire and adjoining parts of Northamptonshire. Comparable zones occur in Picardy and Cotentin in northern France". Crosses between U. × hollandica and either of the parent species are also classified as U. × hollandica. Ulmus × hollandica hybrids, natural and artificial, have been widely planted elsewhere.

<i>Ulmus</i> × <i>hollandica</i> Wredei Hybrid elm cultivar

The hybrid elm cultivar Ulmus × hollandica 'Wredei', also known as Ulmus × hollandica 'Dampieri Aurea' and sometimes marketed as Golden Elm, originated as a sport of the cultivar 'Dampieri' at the Alt-Geltow Arboretum, near Potsdam, Germany, in 1875.

<i>Ulmus minor <span style="font-style:normal;">subsp.</span> canescens</i> Subspecies of tree

Ulmus minorsubsp.canescens is a small deciduous tree occasionally known by the common names grey elm, grey-leafed elm, and hoary elm. Its natural range extends through the lands of the central and eastern Mediterranean, from southern Italy, the islands of Sicily, Malta, Crete, Rhodes and Cyprus, and through Thrace to Turkey, and as far south as Israel, where it is now considered rare and endangered in the wild. The tree is typically found amidst the comparatively humid coastal woodlands and scrublands.

<i>Ulmus minor</i> Christine Buisman Cultivar, resistant to Dutch elm disease

The Field Elm cultivar Ulmus minor 'Christine Buisman' was the first cultivar released by the Dutch elm breeding programme, initiated in response to the less virulent form of Dutch elm disease (DED), Ophiostoma ulmi, which afflicted Europe's elms after the First World War. 'Christine Buisman' was selected from a batch of 390 seedlings grown from seed collected in the Parque de la Quinta de la Fuente del Berro, Madrid, by Mrs Van Eeghen, a friend of elm researcher Johanna Westerdijk, in 1929 and named for the elm disease researcher Christine Buisman. Originally identified as Ulmus foliacea, it was later treated as Ulmus × hollandica by Melville. However, more recent research in Belgium using DNA markers has reaffirmed 'Christine Buisman' as a clone of U. minor.

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 Latifolia' was listed by Loudon in Arboretum et Fruticetum Britannicum (1838) as "the broad-leaved Hertfordshire Elm", and later mentioned, as Ulmus campestris hertfordensis latifolia, by Boulger in the Gardener's Chronicle, but without description. It was considered "probably U. carpinifolia" by Green, though broad leaves point to a possible Ulmus × hollandica hybrid identity. Hybrids of this type were once common in eastern Hertfordshire.

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

The Field Elm cultivar Ulmus minor 'Hunnybunii' was originally identified as U. nitens var. HunnybuniiMoss by Moss in The Cambridge British Flora (1914). 'Hunnybunii' was reputed to have been commonly planted in the parklands and hedgerows of Essex, Cambridgeshire, and Huntingdonshire before the advent of Dutch elm disease. Melville considered the tree a hybrid of 'Coritana'.

The Field Elm cultivar Ulmus minor 'Microphylla Pendula', the Weeping small-leaved elm, was first listed by the Travemünde nursery, Lübeck, and described by Kirchner in Petzold & Kirchner's Arboretum Muscaviense (1864), as Ulmus microphylla pendulaHort.. By the 1870s it was being marketed in nurseries in Europe and America as Ulmus campestris var. microphylla pendula.

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

The Field Elm cultivar Ulmus minor 'Pendula' was said to have been raised in Belgium in 1863. It was listed as Ulmus sativa pendula by C. de Vos in 1887, and by Boom in 1959 as a cultivar.

<i>Ulmus</i> of King & Co

Ulmus of King & Co nursery, Rayne, are elms grown from cuttings taken in the early 1990s from two to four old trees surviving in north Essex, England, amidst others afflicted by Dutch elm disease (DED). Photographs of the first source tree, near Braintree, appeared in the press in 2010. The second source tree is known locally as the Lynfields Elm, near Witham. Released in 2010, the saplings are described by the nursery that marketed them as "English elm". A 2010 genetic test referred to them as "English Elm ", an identification presumably supplied by the nursery itself. At Kew, however, three King & Co elms are listed as U. minorMill., without a cultivar name. The 2010 genetic test found the source trees sampled to be of different genotypes.

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

The Field Elm cultivar Ulmus minor 'Coritana' was originally claimed by Melville, while he was searching in the neighbourhood of Leicestershire in 1936 for U. elegantissima, as a new species, which he called U. coritana. He later recorded its distribution in the counties of Bedfordshire, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Cambridgeshire, Essex, Hertfordshire, Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire, Norfolk, Oxfordshire, Suffolk and Warwickshire. Richens, however, dismissed U. coritana as 'an artificial aggregate' of local forms of Field Elm. Bean noted (1988) that Melville's U. coritana was not recognised in the Flora of the British Isles as a species distinct from U. carpinifolia [:U. minor].

<i>Ulmus</i> × <i>diversifolia</i> Elm cultivar

Ulmus × diversifolia, also known as the diverse leaved elm, was originally described by Melville in 1939 as a new species, U. diversifolia, though he later believed it a natural hybrid of Coritanian elm, Plot elm and Wych elm. He recorded its distribution in Hertfordshire, between Hatfield, Hertford and Watton-at-Stone, and in Suffolk, where it was common along the coastal plain from Ipswich and Felixstowe to Lowestoft and Beccles, occurring inland as far as Diss and Debenham, and probably extending further north into Norfolk and south towards Colchester, Essex. He accordingly referred to it as "the East Anglian elm".

The Field Elm cultivar Ulmus minor 'Glandulosa' was described as Ulmus glabra [:smooth-leaved] Mill. var. glandulosa by Lindley in A Synopsis of British Flora, arranged according to the Natural Order (1829), from trees near Ludlow, Shropshire. Melville identified a specimen in Ludlow in 1939, calling it in a 1946 paper "a good form of U. carpinifolia" [:U. minor ], describing it more fully and renaming it U. carpinifoliaGled. var. glandulosa (Lindl.). Regarding it as out of its natural range and deliberately planted, he referred to it as The Ludlow Elm, the "type tree" of a "variety" of Field Elm. Herbarium specimens of 'Glandulosa' are held in both the Lindley Herbarium in Cambridge and the Borrer Herbarium at Kew.

<i>Ulmus minor <span style="font-style:normal;">var.</span> italica</i> Elm cultivar

Ulmus minorvar.italica was first described by Augustine Henry in 1913, as a 'variety' of field elm from Italy, Spain, Portugal and Algeria. He called it Ulmus nitens var. italica, 'Mediterranean Elm'. The variety was accepted by Krüssman (1984), despite the wide source-area claimed for it, as a non-clonal cultivar, U. carpinifolia var. italicaHenry. Bean (1988), however, considered it "a variety of rather dubious standing", and it was ignored by Richens (1983), who listed instead a "small-leaved U. minor of Spain" and a "narrow-leaved U. minor of northern and central Italy", as well as "the densely hairy leaved U. minor of southern Italy", the latter being Ulmus minor subsp. canescens, formerly Melville's Ulmus canescens.

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

Ulmus × hollandica 'Nottingham' is an elm cultivar. It was distributed from the early nineteenth century as 'Siberian elm' by Castle Nurseries, Nottingham, and much planted locally. Richens (1983) described it as a hybrid, possibly of French origin, between wych elm Ulmus glabra and field elm Ulmus minor. He called it Nottingham elm.

References

  1. Richens, R. H., Elm (Cambridge 1983), p.280
  2. Richens, R. H., Elm (Cambridge 1983), p.279
  3. Coleman M. (2002) 'British elms.' British Wildlife 13 (6): 390-395.
  4. Richens, R. H., Elm (Cambridge 1983), p.9
  5. 1 2 Kentish Elm Conservation Project gallery, resistantelms.co.uk
  6. Stace, C. A. (1997). New Flora of the British Isles, 2nd edition. Cambridge University Press.
  7. White, J. & More, D. (2003). Trees of Britain & Northern Europe. Cassell's, London.
  8. Richens, R. H. (1983). Elm. Cambridge University Press.
  9. Webber, J. (2008). Dutch elm disease in Britain. Forest Research, Forestry Commission, Alice Holt, Farnham, Surrey
  10. Collin, E., Bilger, I., Eriksson, G. & Turok, J. (2000). The conservation of elm genetic resources in Europe, in Dunn, C. P., (Ed.) (2000) The Elms: Breeding, Conservation and Disease Management. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Boston, USA.
  11. Mittempergher, L; Santini, A (2004). "The history of elm breeding" (PDF). Investigacion Agraria: Sistemas y Recursos Forestales. 13 (1): 161–177.
  12. Gunner, Alec (2016-06-09). "East Anglian Elms - An assessment of characteristics of surviving trees". The 2016 International Elm Conference by The Conservation Foundation. Retrieved 2017-03-13.
  13. Miles, A. (2007) Hidden Trees of Britain. Ebury Press.
  14. Gibbs, J. N., Brasier, C. M., Webber, J. F. (1994) Dutch elm disease in Britain. Forestry Commission Research Note No. 252.
  15. The Woodland Trust, Tree Search
  16. Fifteen source-trees in England cloned for the Conservation Foundation's 'Great British Elm Experiment'; conservationfoundation.co.uk
  17. '"Super tree" from Northamptonshire helping to fight Dutch Elm Disease and repopulate woodlands', northamptonchron.co.uk Archived 2013-12-03 at the Wayback Machine
  18. "'Young elms return to London', The Conservation Foundation". Archived from the original on 2013-12-02. Retrieved 2013-11-17.
  19. Oliver Rackham, A History of the Countryside (London, 1986), p.241; Plate XXIc: 'Boxworth elm' at Knapwell, Cambridgeshire
  20. 1 2 Wood of 'Boxworth elm' (East Anglian elms group), Boxworth, Cambridgeshire - Google Maps, November 2022, access date: February 15, 2023
  21. 'Boxworth elm', the Woodland Trust, Ancient tree inventory; ati.woodlandtrust.org.uk
  22. Photographs of young Boxworth elms, The Conservation Foundation: The Great British Elm Experiment; conservationfoundation.co.uk
  23. Screening European Elms for resistance to 'Ophiostoma novo-ulmi' (Forest Science 2005)
  24. 'Spanish Clones' (Oct. 2013) resistantelms.co.uk
  25. 'Elms of the Essex / Cambridgeshire border'; resistantelms.co.uk/galleries
  26. Mark Seddon, 'Back to the Future: the elms of Abbots Ripton', pressreader.com
  27. East Anglian elms at the west entrance to Abbots Ripton, Huntingdonshire - Google Maps, May 2021, access date: February 15, 2023
  28. Leaves of Dengie peninsula elms, Brian Eversham, 'Identifying British Elms, Ulmus '; Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Northamptonshire Wildlife Trusts, v. 2.3.1 July 2021; p.99
  29. Dengie elms (field elms on the Dengie peninsula), Grange Road, south of Tillingham, Essex - Google Maps, August 2009, access date: 17 May, 2023
  30. Elwes, Henry John; Henry, Augustine (1913). The Trees of Great Britain and Ireland, Volume VII. Edinburgh. p. 1899. ISBN   9781108069380 . Retrieved 15 December 2021.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  31. Photograph of the great elms on Long Melford Green (Francis Frith Collection, images.francisfrith.com)
  32. Photograph, plate XXI(h), in Oliver Rackham, A History of the Countryside (London, 1986), p.236.
  33. S. R. Badmin's 'Long Melford Green on a Frosty Morning', Victoria and Albert Museum
  34. Three summer photographs of the elms of Termitts Farm, between Hatfield Peverel and Terling, Essex; labelled 'Terling 2, 3, 4' in 'East Anglian Elm Gallery 2', resistantelms.co.uk/galleries
  35. Tree Register Of the British Isles (TROBI)
  36. "List of plants in the {elm} collection". Brighton & Hove City Council. Retrieved 23 September 2016.