Ulmus 'Exoniensis'

Description

The tree initially has an upright, columnar form, but later develops a large rounded crown and occasionally reaches 17 m in height. Older specimens may develop pendulous branches. Exeter Elm is chiefly distinguished by its contorted leaves, Image:RN Ulmus glabra Exoniensis winter.JPG|'Exoniensis' in April File:Ulmus 'Exoniensis'. Lochend House adjoining Lochend Park, Edinburgh (2).jpg|Bole of Exeter Elm File:Bruntsfield Links - geograph.org.uk - 3913760.jpg|Characteristic bole-burls of Exeter elm (left), Bruntsfield Links, Edinburgh File:Ulmus 'Exoniensis' samarae. Bruntsfield Links, Edinburgh.jpg|'Exoniensis' samarae File:Middenstandswoningen Brink.JPG|'Exoniensis' fruiting, late April, the Brink, Betondorp, the Netherlands (2014) File:Loofhout, bomen, bossen, lanen, botanisch, ulmus glabra fastigiata (bergiep), Bestanddeelnr 193-0610.jpg|'Exoniensis' foliage Image:AB Ulmus glabra 'Exon' leaves 2.jpg|'Exoniensis' foliage File:Exeter elm leaves.jpg|Dried 'Exoniensis' leaves Image:Ulmus glabra 'Exoniensis' grafted on Ulmus minor.jpg|'Exoniensis' scion grafted on U. minor stock

Pests and diseases

Chevalier noted (1942) that Ulmus montana fastigiata (Exeter Elm) was one of four European cultivars found by researchers in The Netherlands to have significant resistance to the earlier strain of Dutch elm disease prevalent in the 1920s and '30s, the others being 'Monumentalis' Rinz, 'Berardii' and 'Vegeta'. The four were rated less resistant than U. foliacea clone 23, from Spain, later cultivated as U. minor 'Christine Buisman'. 'Exoniensis' possesses a moderate resistance to the more virulent strain of Dutch elm disease, and consequently often featured in the Dutch elm breeding programme in association with the Field Elm (U. minor) and Himalayan Elm (U. wallichiana).

Cultivation

Once commonly planted in the UK and parts of western Europe, notably in the Netherlands (as pluim-iep, plume-elm), and in Stockholm, Sweden, 'Exoniensis' is also known to have been marketed in Poland in the 19th century by the Ulrich nursery, Warsaw, and remains in commerce there. The Späth nursery of Berlin cultivated the tree as U. montana fastigiata (U. exoniensis Hort.) from the early 20th century. It is possible that three trees supplied by the Späth nursery to the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh in 1902 as U. montana fastigiata were Exeter Elm,

'Exoniensis' is found in Australia at the Ballarat Botanical Gardens where it is listed on the Significant Tree Register of the National Trust. An Ulmus plumosa (a synonym of 'Exoniensis' in continental Europe), of "elegant and pyramidal shape" and "dark green foliage", appeared in the 1902 catalogue of the Bobbink and Atkins nursery, Rutherford, New Jersey. File:Grimsby Magistrates Court - geograph.org.uk - 184076.jpg|Exeter elms (right), Grimsby Magistrates Court, Lincolnshire (2009) File:Läntinen rantakatu ja Pikku-Pukki.JPG|Three Exeter elms (bottom right) before the City Hall, Turku, Finland (2011) File:Begraafplaats Iepenhof (Hoofddorp) - 1.jpg|Exeter elm (background), De Iepenhof [: elmcourt] cemetery, Hoofddorp, Netherlands (2016) File:Begraafplaats Iepenhof (Hoofddorp) - 4.jpg|Exeter elm (background), De Iepenhof cemetery, Hoofddorp (2016) File:2022 Brink 4-22, Asd-boom.jpg|'Exoniensis' in April, the Brink, Betondorp, the Netherlands (2022) In Sweden 'Exoniensis' is sometimes pruned from an early age to form a tidy cone-shaped tree called locally 'pyramidalm' (: pyramid elm - also one of Späth's names for 'Exoniensis'). File:Goteborg Tradgardsforeningen 2.jpg|'Pyramidalm' [:pyramid elm] (pruned 'Exoniensis'), Garden Society of Gothenburg, Sweden (2014) File:Göteborg_-KMB-_16001000225544.jpg|Same (1944)

Notable trees

Bean (1936) noted a large old specimen, 12 feet in girth, in the garden of the Old Vicarage, Bitton, Gloucestershire. The oldest in Sweden, at Gustav III's Pavilion in Hagaparken, had a height in 2008 of 19 m and a bole girth of 462 cm. A 180-year-old specimen in Hamburg has attained a height of 28 m and a trunk diameter of 1.45 m. The UK TROBI Champion tree is in Scotland, at Baxter Park, Dundee, measuring 15 m high by 103 cm d.b.h. in 2004. The cultivar is represented in Éire by a tree at Birr Castle (Mount Palmer), County Offaly, with a d.b.h. of 29 cm when measured in 2002. File:Loofhout, bomen, bossen, lanen, botanisch, ulmus glabra fastigiata, Bestanddeelnr 193-0609.jpg|Early slide of an Exeter Elm in the Netherlands File:Ulmus 'Exoniensis'. Lochend House adjoining Lochend Park, Edinburgh (1).jpg|Old unpollarded Exeter Elm, Lochend Park, Edinburgh, showing pendulous branch

Varieties

The Baudriller nursery of Angers, France, marketed a variegated Exeter elm in the 1880s, U. montana 'Fastigiata Variegata'.

Hybrid cultivars

'Clusius', 'Columella', 'Dodoens', 'Lobel', 'Plantyn', 'Nanguen' = , 'Wanoux' = . The cultivar 'Columella' features the same rough, rounded, contorted leaves, the result of a recessive gene inherited from the Exeter Elm.

'Exoniensis' also indirectly featured in the Italian elm breeding programme as an ancestor of 'Plantyn', which was crossed with clones of the Siberian Elm Ulmus pumila to produce the cultivars 'Arno', 'Plinio', and 'San Zanobi'.

Despite being of British provenance and, at the time of writing, the only wych cultivar with any resistance to Dutch elm disease, and despite contributing to the complex hybrids above, Exeter elm did not appear in Seddon and Shreeve's Great British Elms (Kew, 2024).

Synonymy

• Ulmus campestris var. nuda subvar. fastigiata oxfortii Hort. Vilv., probable misspelling.
• Ulmus fordii Hort.: Loudon, Arboretum et Fruticetum Britannicum, 3: 1399, 1838.
• Ulmus montana fastigiata: Loudon, Arboretum et Fruticetum Britannicum, 3: 1399, 1838.
• Ulmus montana f. fastigiata plumosa Hort.: Schelle in Beissner et al. Handbuch der Laubholz-Benennung 85. 1903.
• Ulmus ontariensis Hort. ex. Steud.
• Ulmus plumosa: C. de Vos http://kiki.huh.harvard.edu/databases/botanist_search.php?id=71879,
• Ulmus plumosa foliis variegatis: C. de Vos, Woordenboek 137, 1867.
• Ulmus suberosa oxoniensis: Audibert, Tonelle, Tarascon, France Catalogue, 1832, probable misspelling.
• Ulmus ? var. replicata: Masters, Hortus Duroverni, 67, 1831, name in synonymy.

Accessions

;Europe

• Arboretum Trompenburg http://www.trompenburg.nl/, Netherlands. No details available.
• Brighton & Hove City Council, UK. NCCPG Elm Collection. A number of trees, large specimens at Stanmer Park Arboretum (1), Linkway Lodge, Hollingdean (40+), University of Sussex (3) and Whitehawk Way (2).
• Cambridge Botanic Garden http://www.botanic.cam.ac.uk/, University of Cambridge, UK. 1 tree, no accession details available.
• Dubrava Arboretum, Lithuania. No details available.
• Grange Farm Arboretum http://www.thegardeningwebsite.co.uk/grange-farm-plants-speciality-rare-trees-shrubs-i411.html, Sutton St. James, Spalding, Lincs., UK. Acc. no. 829.
• Hortus Botanicus Nationalis, Salaspils, Latvia. Acc. nos. 18105,6,7.
• Linnaean Gardens of Uppsala, Sweden. Acc. no. 0000–1006.
• Museum Castle Sypesteyn, Nieuw-Loosdrechtsedijk 150, Loosdrecht, (Wijdemeren, Netherlands) 3 mature trees planted in 1910.
• Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, UK. Acc. no. 19699363.
• Sir Harold Hillier Gardens, Romsey, UK. Acc. nos. 1977.6756, 1977.7086.
• Tallinn Botanic Garden, Estonia http://www.tba.ee/index.php?lang=eng. No accession details available.
• University of Copenhagen, Botanic Garden, Denmark. No details available.
• Netherlands Plant Collection Ulmus Wijdemeren, 1 tree planted, 2021 Molenmeent Loosdrecht

;Australasia

• Ballarat Botanical Gardens, Australia. 1 tree, planted c.1900. Acc. no. T11321.

References

References

1. Bean, W. J. (1981). ''Trees and shrubs hardy in Great Britain'', 7th edition. Murray, London
2. (1913). "The Trees of Great Britain & Ireland".
3. Richens, R. H. (1983). ''Elm''. Cambridge University Press.
4. White, J. & More, D. (2003). ''Trees of Britain and Northern Europe''. Cassell's, London.
5. Harvey, J. (1974). ''Early Nurserymen''.  p.104. Phillimore & Co. Ltd. 1975. {{ISBN. 978-0850331929
6. Coleman, Max, ed.: ''Wych Elm'' (Edinburgh, 2009)
7. [https://www.exetertrees.uk/exeter-elm.html Fruit of Exeter elm, exetertrees.uk]
8. [http://www.nrk.no/hage/%3Faction%3DBrowse%26typeId%3D4%26familyId%3D568 Photograph of fastigiate form of young Exeter elm]
9. Wilkinson, Gerald, ''Epitaph for the Elm'' (London 1978), p.62
10. Bean, W. J. (1936) ''Trees and shrubs hardy in Great Britain'', 7th edition, Murray, London, vol. 2, p.617
11. [https://science.mnhn.fr/institution/mnhn/collection/p/item/p06883092 "Muséum national d'histoire naturelle, spécimen P06883092"] Two clones, (left) ''U. exoniensis'' (misnamed "U. oxoniensis" in France in 19th century), (right) ''U. pyramidata'' (1863)
12. "Photograph of 'Exoniensis' leaves in early summer".
13. [https://bioportal.naturalis.nl/nl/multimedia/WAG.1846640 'Exoniensis' fruit and new leaves, Arboretum Dreyen, Wagingingen, 1962; herbarium specimen WAG.1846640; bioportal.naturalis.nl]
14. (1942). ["Les Ormes de France"](http://www.persee.fr/docAsPDF/jatba_0370-3681_1942_num_22_254_1721.pdf}}{{Dead link). Revue de botanique appliquée et d'agriculture coloniale.
15. (1993). "Dutch Elm Disease Research". Springer-Verlag.
16. Ulrich, C. (1894), ''Katalog Drzew i Krezewow, C. Ulrich'', Rok 1893–94, Warszawa
17. (1902–1903). "Katalog". L. Späth Baumschulenweg.
18. (1902). "Accessions book". Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh.
19. Aura]].[https://turunpuut.fi/en/ulmus/ulmus-glabra-exoniensis/2189/ Exeter elms, City Hall, Turku, Finland; /turunpuut.fi/en/ulmus/ulmus-glabra-exoniensis/2189/]
20. [https://turunpuut.fi/en/ulmus/ulmus-glabra-exoniensis/2985/ Coppiced Exeter elm, Turku, Finland; https://turunpuut.fi/en/ulmus/ulmus-glabra-exoniensis/2985/]
21. De Vos, C.. (1867). "Beredeneerd woordenboek der voornaamste heesters en coniferen, in Nederland gekweekt". J. B. Wolters.
22. (1902). "Bobbink and Atkins, Rutherford. N.J.".
23. [https://www.monumentaltrees.com/en/photos-ulmusglabra-1_exoniensis/ Exeter elm in the Netherlands, monumentaltrees.com]
24. Photographs of 'Pyramidalm' and unpruned 'Exoniensis' in Sweden, www.tradgardsakademin.se [http://www.tradgardsakademin.se/aktuella-uppdateringar/ulmus-glabra-exoniensis-pyramidalm] {{Webarchive. link. (16 June 2011)
25. (2014). "Märkesträd i Sverige - 10 Almar". Lustgården.
26. [http://www.dendrologerna.se/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Lustgarden_arg093_2013_0001_index_optimerad_250_dpi.pdf Lars Lagerstedt, Pyramid Elm in ''Lustgarden'', 2013, p.40]
27. Bean, W. J. (1936) ''Trees and shrubs hardy in Great Britain'', 7th edition, Murray, London, vol. 2, p.617
28. ''U. glabra'' 'Exoniensis', the "Planten un Blomen", Hamburg: from the ''Handbuch der Ulmengewächse'', [http://www.ulmen-handbuch.de/handbuch/ulmus/u_glabra_exoniensis.html]
29. Johnson, O. (2011). ''Champion Trees of Britain & Ireland'', p. 169. Kew Publishing, Kew, London. {{ISBN. 9781842464526.
30. [https://books.google.com/books?id=HAsDAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA117 Baudriller Établissement d'Horticulture, ''Catalogue général descriptif et raisonné des arbres fruitiers, forestiers & d'ornement cultivés dans l'établissement. Année. 1880'', p.117]
31. link. (26 January 2004 ''HortScience'' 37(7): 1139–1141. 2002. American Society for Horticultural Science, Alexandria, VA 22314, USA.)
32. Santini A., Fagnani A., Ferrini F., Mittempergher L., Brunetti M., Crivellaro A., Macchioni N., Elm breeding for DED resistance, the Italian clones and their wood properties. [http://www.inia.es/gcontrec/pub/179-184-(15)-Elm_breeding_1161943564468.pdf] {{Webarchive. link. (26 October 2007 ''Invest Agrar: Sist. Recur. For.'' (2004) 13 (1), 179–184. 2004)
33. Mark Seddon and David Shreeve, ''Great British Elms'' (Kew Gardens, 2024)
34. De Vos, C.. (1867). "Beredeneerd woordenboek der voornaamste heesters en coniferen, in Nederland gekweekt". J. B. Wolters.
35. "List of plants in the {elm} collection". Brighton & Hove City Council.
36. [https://wijdemeren.cobra360.nl/index.php?@iepen Netherlands Plant Collection: Iepen, ''Ulmus'']
37. [https://vhd.heritagecouncil.vic.gov.au/index.php/places/70822/download-report ''Ulmus glabra'' 'Exoniensis', Ballarat Botanical Gardens; Victorian Heritage Database Report]
38. [https://vhd.heritagecouncil.vic.gov.au/places/70822 ''Ulmus glabra'' 'Exoniensis' photographs, Ballarat Botanical Gardens; vhd.heritagecouncil.vic.gov.au]