Ulmus minor

Description

The tree typically grows to

The species readily produces suckers from roots and stumps, even after devastation by Dutch elm disease; consequently genetic resources are not considered endangered. File:East Coker elm, 2.jpg|Typical U. minor form, East Coker, UK (2008) File:Ulmus minor ex Provence flower.jpg|U. minor inflorescence File:Ulmus minor ex Provence samarae.jpg|U. minor samarae File:20170911Ulmus minor2.jpg|U. minor foliage Image:Ulmus-minor-foliage-mosaic.JPG|U. minor foliage Image:U. minor leaf.jpg|Leaf and 1 Euro coin Image:Ulmus minor 14.jpg|Root-suckers spreading around a field elm File:Ulmus minor Stapleford bark.jpg|Bark of Stapleford elm, UK File:Полски бряст (стар) - кора.JPG|Bark of U. minor, Bulgaria

Pests and diseases

The species has a hugely variable reaction to Dutch elm disease (DED), including all the fashionable pre-20th century plantsman's clones (see Subspecies and varieties). However, field elm is genetically highly variable; Italian specimens when inoculated with the pathogen displayed between 15 and 100% dieback and between 70 and 100% wilting.

Tolerance of elm yellows (phloem necrosis) is generally good, U. minor exhibiting symptoms such as the 'witch's broom' only sporadically throughout Italy, including Sicily and Sardinia, however the disease was often locally common within the species in France, including Paris.

Cultivation

U. minor in general and a number of clones in particular (see 'Cultivars' below) were once commonly cultivated across Europe in town and country, but owing to its susceptibility to Dutch elm disease, U. minor is now uncommon in cultivation. However, in an ongoing project that began in the 1990s, several thousand surviving field elms have been tested for innate resistance by national research institutes in the EU, with a view to returning field elm to cultivation.

In the UK, despite its late leaf-flush in the north and its suckering habits, continental U. minor was occasionally planted as an ornamental urban tree. Augustine Henry wrote in 1913 that the U. minor planted in parks in Scotland were of French origin. More recently U. minor seed was imported to the UK from Italy. There are mature survivors in Edinburgh that are not the common U. minor cultivars (2015).

U. minor has been introduced to the southern hemisphere, notably Australasia and Argentina. Image:Ulmus minor seedlings.jpg|U. minor seedlings

Notable trees

U. minor can live to a great age. An ancient field elm stood until recently in the village square of Metaxades, Thrace, Greece. Having abandoned their original village in 1286 after cholera outbreaks, the villagers re-founded it in the hills where a young elm was growing beside a spring. An elm (reputedly the original) and the fountain were the focal-point of the village until the late 20th century. The tallest recorded field elms in Greece were two specimens planted in 1650 beside the newly built church of the Archangels Michael and Gabriel, in Omali Voiou (Oμαλή Bοΐου) near Siatista, which, despite being open-grown trees, attained a height of 40 metres by the mid-20th century. The immemorial elm opposite the village square of Aidona in Thessaly, Greece which has been "listed" as a national "Monument of Nature", lost its crown in a recent storm (2009) and has now been pollarded; it is regenerating vigorously. A rare example of a centuries-old field elm that retains its heartwood and crown is the 360-year-old specimen in the village square of Strinylas, Corfu.

A tree said to be of similar age named The Old Elm (200 cm d.b.h.) still stands (2013) in the city of Sliven, Bulgaria; other veterans are said to survive in the village of Samuilovo, 7 km from Sliven.

In France, a tree reputedly over 650 years old survived in the centre of Biscarrosse south of Bordeaux until the summer of 2010, when it finally succumbed to Dutch elm disease. Another veteran with a 6-metre girth survives at Bettange, France, close to the Belgian border, reputedly planted in 1593. Other wrecks include 'l'ormeau de Sully' in Villesèquelande near Carcassonne, "a magnificent tree supported by three metal props", said to have been planted in the early 17th C by the Duc de Sully,

A tree approximately 400 years old and 5.55 metres in girth grows in the town of Mergozzo in Piedmont, Italy. 'L'olmo di Mergozzo', like its French counterparts 'l'orme de Biscarosse' and 'l'orme de Bettange', is hollowed out by age, its life prolonged by lopping, while in Spain the elm in the Plaza del Olmo ("Elm square" in Spanish) in Navajas, Valencia, is 6.3 metres in girth; planted in 1636 it features on the town crest.

In England, large specimens once identified as U. minor subsp. minor, the narrow- or smooth-leafed elm, were once commonplace in the eastern counties before the advent of DED. The largest recorded tree in the UK grew at Great Amwell, Hertfordshire, measuring 40 m in height and 228 cm d.b.h. in 1911. Another famous specimen was the great elm that towered above its two siblings at the bottom of Long Melford Green, Long Melford, Suffolk, 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". 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. The largest known surviving trees in England 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.), and Melchbourne, Bedfordshire, (147 cm d.b.h.). File:Biscarrosse Elm 2.jpg|U. minor, Biscarrosse, France, died 2010 File:Barjols 16 Villesequelande elm 1.jpg|U. minor, Ville-sequelande, France, planted 17th century File:Orme de Gorbio.jpg|Gorbio elm, Alpes-Mariti-mes, planted 1713 (2010) File:The Elm-tree in The Place, Gorbio.jpg|The Gorbio elm, Alpes-Maritimes, in 1910 File:Elm tree in Sliven Province, Bulgaria.jpg|Old U. minor, Sliven, Bulgaria File:Ulmus minor, Nostra Signora di Castro, Oschiri, Sardinia, Italy.jpg|U. minor, Our Lady of Castro, Oschiri, Sardinia File:Ulmus minor, Nostra Signora di Castro, Oschiri, Sardinia, Italy 2.jpg|U. minor, Our Lady of Castro, Oschiri, Sardinia File:Olmo de Cambil.JPG|U. minor, Cambil, Andalucía, Spain (2012) File:Navajas. Plaza del Olmo 1.jpg|U. minor, Navajas, Valencia (2010) File:Navajas. Plaza del Olmo. Fiestas Mayores 5.jpg|U. minor, Navajas, Valencia (2017) File:Ulmus minor at Fox-Amphoux.jpg|U. minor village perché Fox-Amphoux, Provence, 2017 File:Yass Riverside Park Tree.JPG|U. minor, Riverside Park, Yass, New South Wales

Subspecies, varieties, and former species sunk as ''U. minor''

England

The name Ulmus minor subsp. minor was used by R. H. Richens Some authorities, among them Richens and Coleman, include English elm among varieties of field elm, Richens calling English elm U. minor var. vulgaris. Richens sank as undifferentiated U. minor certain local English forms such as U. minor 'Goodyeri', U. minor 'Hunnybunii', U. minor 'Sowerbyi', and U. minor 'Coritana'.

Eurasia

Henry's Ulmus nitens var. italica, 'Mediterranean Elm' (1913), distinguished by its 14 to 18 pairs of leaf-veins, was accepted, despite the wide source-area claimed for it ("Italy, Spain, Portugal and Algeria"), as U. carpinifolia var. italica Henry, by Krüssman (1984), who included a photograph of a specimen in Gisselfeld Park, Denmark. Bean (1988), however, considered it "a variety of rather dubious standing", and it was ignored by Richens (1983).

U. canescens Melville and U. boissieri Grudz. were both sunk as U. minor by Richens. The former is found throughout the eastern Mediterranean, including Palestine and Israel, and is distinguished by its leaves, densely downy on the underside when mature. The latter is a little-known tree found in Iran, in the Zagros forests and the Kerman / Kermanshah area. Green and Richens also sank U. minor var. suberosa (Moench) Rehder - the so-called 'Cork-barked elm', korkulme (Germany) or wiąz korkowa (Poland), as a genetically random, maritime or juvenile form of U. minor, insufficiently differentiated to merit varietal status, its name a relic of taxonomic conservatism.

Cultivars

Numerous cultivars have been raised in Europe since the 18th century, although many are now probably either extinct owing to the ravages of Dutch elm disease, or survive unrecognized in sucker form: File:Bonsai Poljski brijest na izložbi u Čakovcu.JPG|Bonsai field elm

Hybrids

The tree's natural range generously overlaps that of wych elm Ulmus glabra to the north, and readily hybridizes with it to produce the so-called 'Dutch elm' Ulmus × hollandica.

In Spain and Italy Ulmus minor has naturally hybridized with Siberian elm U. pumila. In Spain U. pumila was introduced in the 16th century and has since spread widely, contributing to conservation concerns for U. minor. In Italy U. pumila was introduced in the 1930s; research is ongoing into the extent of its hybridisation with U. minor. The resulting hybrid has not yet been given a formal botanical name, though there are cultivated forms such as 'Recerta' and 'Fiorente' (see 'Hybrid cultivars').

• Ulmus × hollandica
• Ulmus davidiana var. japonica × U. minor
• U. minor × U. pumila

Hybrid cultivars

U. minor hybridises naturally with U. glabra, producing elms of the Ulmus × hollandica group, from which there have arisen a number of cultivars:

The tree has featured strongly in artificial hybridization experiments in Europe and to a lesser extent in the United States. The hybrid Ulmus davidiana var. japonica × U. minor was raised at the Arnold Arboretum before 1924. Most of the European research was based at Wageningen in the Netherlands until 1992, whence a number of hybrid cultivars have been commercially released since 1960. The earlier trees were raised in response to the initial Dutch elm disease pandemic that afflicted Europe after the First World War, and were to prove vulnerable to the much more virulent strain of the disease that arrived in the late 1960s. However, further research eventually produced several trees highly resistant to disease which were released after 1989.

• Arno, Clusius, Columella, Commelin, Den Haag, Fiorente, Frontier, Fuente Umbria, Groeneveld, Homestead, Lobel, Nanguen = , Pioneer, Plantyn, Plinio, Recerta, San Zanobi, Toledo, Urban, Wanoux =

In art

The elms by Willy Lott's Cottage and Flatford Mill, Suffolk, in Constable's paintings and drawings were, according to Richens, "smooth-leaved elm" (U. minor), though the hedgerow elms in his Dedham Vale and East Bergholt landscape-paintings and drawings were otherwise "most probably East Anglian hybrid elms ... such as still grow in the same hedges". File:Constables The Hay Wain.png|Field elm beside Willy Lott's Cottage in Constable's The Hay Wain (1821) File:Flatford Lock.jpg|The same, in Constable's Flatford Lock, Christchurch Mansion, Ipswich File:Lionel Bicknell Constable (1828-1887) - Near Stoke-by-Nayland - N02649 - National Gallery.jpg|East Anglian field elms in Near Stoke-by-Nayland by Lionel Bicknell Constable (1828-1887)

Accessions

North America

• United States National Arboretum, Washington, D.C., US. Acc. nos. 12852, 64382.

Europe

• Arboretum de La Petite Loiterie http://lapetiteloiterie.free.fr/html/presentation/especes.html, Monthodon, France. No details available
• Cambridge Botanic Garden http://www.botanic.cam.ac.uk/, University of Cambridge, UK. No accession details available.
• Dubrava Arboretum, Lithuania. No details available.
• Grange Farm Arboretum, Sutton St James, Spalding, Lincolnshire, UK. Acc. no. not known.
• Linnaean Gardens of Uppsala, Finland. Acc. no. 1930-1013.
• Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, UK. Acc. nos. 19699368, 16899359, 19699365.
• Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, UK. Acc. no. not known.
• Sir Harold Hillier Gardens, Hampshire, UK. Acc. no. 2001-0188, 3 specimens collected in Iran, 2000.
• Strona Arboretum, University of Life Sciences, Warsaw, Poland. No details available.

Australasia

• Eastwoodhill Arboretum https://web.archive.org/web/20080311122431/http://www.eastwoodhill.org.nz/gardens--collection/collection.aspx?Type=&G=Ulmus, Gisborne, New Zealand. 2 trees, details not known.

Nurseries

North America

None known

Europe

• Eggleston Hall Gardens https://web.archive.org/web/20170530164942/http://egglestonhallgardens.com/, Eggleston, Barnard Castle, County Durham, UK
• Firecrest Tree & Shrub Nursery http://www.firecrest.org.uk, Woodbridge, Suffolk, UK
• Lorenz von Ehren https://shop.lve-baumschule.de/laubgehoelze/?p=31, Hamburg, Germany
• Trees & Hedges http://treesandhedges.co.uk, Heathfield, East Sussex, UK
• UmbraFlor http://www.umbraflor.it, Spello, Italy

References

References

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2. [http://www.ulmen-handbuch.de/handbuch/ulmus/fotos/gattung_ulmus_02_gr.jpg ''Ulmus minor'' in Gotland, Sweden: ulmen-handbuch.de/handbuch/ulmus]
3. Heybroek, H. M., Goudzwaard, L, Kaljee, H. (2009). ''Iep of olm, karakterboom van de Lage Landen'' (:Elm, a tree with character of the Low Countries). KNNV, Uitgeverij. {{ISBN. 9789050112819
4. (1968). "The correct designation of the European field elms". Feddes Repertorium.
5. Richens, R. H., ''Elm'' (Cambridge 1983), p.18
6. Richens, R. H., ''Elm'' (Cambridge 1983), p.21
7. Richens, R. H., ''Elm'' (Cambridge 1983), p.88
8. Edlin, H. L. (1947). ''British Woodland Trees'',  p.26. 3rd. edition. London: B. T. Batsford Ltd.
9. (1978). "On the discrimination of species in hybrid swarms with special reference to ''Ulmus'' and the nomenclature of ''U. minor'' (Mill.) and ''U. carpinifolia'' (Gled.)". Taxon.
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11. [http://rbg-web2.rbge.org.uk/cgi-bin/nph-readbtree.pl/parent=/filename=feout/firstval=11/SID=484.1161948890?FAMILY_XREF=&GENUS_XREF=Ulmus&SPECIES_XREF=&TAXON_NAME_XREF=&RANK= Flora Europaea]
12. Stace, C. A. (1997). ''New Flora of the British Isles''. 2nd edition. Cambridge University Press.
13. Max Coleman, ed.: ''Wych Elm'' ([[Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh]] publication, 2009; {{ISBN. 978-1-906129-21-7); p. 22
14. Photographs of ''Ulmus minor'' in France (L'orme de Martailly-lès-Brancion), krapooarboricole.wordpress.com [http://krapooarboricole.wordpress.com/category/arbres-coup-de-coeur/ormes/] ; in Portugal, 1.bp.blogspot.com [http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_S20HPrGKodc/SVJ-IqZGDyI/AAAAAAAAENA/1w0jVsk1zG0/s1600-h/ulmeiro1.JPG].
15. {{Naturalis Biodiversity Center
16. The [[samara (fruit). samarae]] are oval or obovate, glabrous, {{convert. 12. –. 15. mm. in
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20. Mittempergher, L. (2000). Elm Yellows in Europe. in Dunn, C.P., (ed.): ''The Elms, Breeding, Conservation, & Disease Management.'' 104-105. Boston: Kluwer Academuic Publishing.
21. 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.[http://www.resistantelms.co.uk/spanish-clones/ 'Spanish Clones' (Oct. 2013) resistantelms.co.uk]
22. (1913). "The Trees of Great Britain and Ireland, Volume VII".
23. E. E. Kemp (Curator, [[Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh]] 1950-71) in ''After the Elm'', eds. Clouston & Stansfield, (London, 1979)
24. Boswall Rd [two]; corner of Abbey Mount and Regent Rd; News Steps; Carlton Terrace Brae; Links Place; Seafield Place. Verified by samarae, leaves, suckering habit, form, and late leaf-flush; trees all on Streetview.
25. Hiersch, H., Hensen, I., Zalapa, J. Guries, R. & Brunet, J. (2013). Is hybridization a necessary condition for the evolution of invasiveness in non-native Siberian elm? ''Abstracts. Third International Elm Conference 2013. The elm after 100 years of Dutch elm disease''. Florence,  p.45. [http://elm2013.ipp.cnr.it/downloads/book_of_abstracts.pdf Abstract].
26. "Η ιστορία των Μεταξάδων".
27. The elms of Omali Voiou: «Oι εκκλησίες της Oμαλής Bοΐου» [:The Churches of Omali Voiou], photograph 7 (p.25): www.scribd.com [https://www.scribd.com/doc/112445341/%CE%BF%CE%B9-%CE%B5%CE%BA%CE%BA%CE%BB%CE%B7%CF%83%CE%AF%CE%B5%CF%82-%CF%84%CE%B7%CF%82-%CE%BF%CE%BC%CE%B1%CE%BB%CE%AE%CF%82-%CE%B2%CE%BF%CE%90%CE%BF%CF%85]
28. [https://web.archive.org/web/20140506172652/https://sites.google.com/site/prostateuomenespertrikalwn/prostateuomenes-perioches-periphereiakes-enotetas-trikalon/diateretea-mnemeia-physes/phtelia-tes-aedonas-kalampakas Summer photograph of the centuries-old Aidona elm: sites.google.com]
29. [http://nikos-manitarielassonas.blogspot.co.uk/2011/02/blog-post.html Winter photograph of Aidona elm: nikos-manitarielassonas, photograph 3]
30. ''Διατηρητέα Μνημεία της Φύσεως'' αριθ.36 (:Listed Monuments of Nature, No. 36): https://web.archive.org/web/20080616173320/http://users.otenet.gr/~theonik/peribal/esthitik.htm
31. [http://www.greeka.com/ionian/corfu/corfu-pictures/strinilas-pictures/members-1.htm The elm in Strinylas, Corfu: greeka.com]
32. The elm in Strinylas, Corfu: greeka.com/ionian/corfu/corfu-villages/strinilas-corfu.htm; https://web.archive.org/web/20011224222535/http://www.manfred-peters.de/Titel_Korfu_Tip_Nord.htm
33. [https://web.archive.org/web/20181216031550/http://static.panoramio.com/photos/original/19585616.jpg The elm in Strinylas, Corfu: static.panoramio.com]
34. "Panoramio - Photo of The old Elm in Sliven (Ulmus kampestris) - more than 1 000 years old / Стария сливенски бряст / © by * Rosi *".
35. "'The Sliven elm-tree runs for European Tree of the Year', bnr.bg".
36. krapooarboricole.wordpress.com, [http://krapooarboricole.wordpress.com/2008/02/05/lorme-multi-seculaire-de-biscarosse-40/] [http://www.sudouest.fr/2010/08/28/l-orme-legendaire-171211-3307.php] [http://www.pijouls.com/albums/alblormedebiscarrosse/page_01.htm]
37. "Venerable Trees of the Earth - France".
38. [https://web.archive.org/web/20171007021653/http://www.panoramio.com/photo/9735222 L'Ormeau de Sully, Villesèquelande, panoramio.com]
39. sullystrees.weebly.com/list-of-trees-by-french-departements.html
40. [http://www.navajas.es/portal/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=6&Itemid=7 Ayuntamiento de Navajas, Historia y patrimonio]
41. (1913). "The Trees of Great Britain and Ireland, Volume VII".
42. Photograph of the great elms on Long Melford Green (Francis Frith Collection, images.francisfrith.com) [http://images.francisfrith.com/c10/450/39/L101004.jpg]
43. Photograph, plate XXI(h), in [[Oliver Rackham]], ''A History of the Countryside'' (London, 1986),  p.236.
44. S. R. Badmin's 'Long Melford Green on a Frosty Morning', Victoria and Albert Museum [https://web.archive.org/web/20110803223448/http://www.vam.ac.uk/users/node/16047]
45. [http://www.treeregister.org/treecollections/ Tree Register Of the British Isles (TROBI)]
46. (2002). "British elms". British Wildlife.
47. Richens, R. H., ''Elm'' (Cambridge, 1983)
48. Richens, R. H., 'Studies on ''Ulmus'' 1. The Range of Variation of East Anglian Elms', [https://archive.bsbi.org/Wats3p138.pdf ''Watsonia'' 3: 138–153 (1955); bsbi.org]
49. Richens, R. H., ''Elm'' (Cambridge, 1983), Ch.7 'Botanical classification', note 86, p.280
50. (1913). "The Trees of Great Britain and Ireland, Volume VII".
51. Krüssman, Gerd, ''Manual of Cultivated Broad-Leaved Trees & Shrubs'' (1984 vol. 3), pl.144
52. [http://beanstreesandshrubs.org/browse/ulmus/ulmus-carpinifolia-gleditsch/ Bean, W. J., ''Trees and shrubs hardy in Great Britain'' (1988) beanstreesandshrubs.org]
53. Richens, R.H.. (1983). "Elm". Cambridge University Press.
54. Melville, R. (1957). Ulmus canescens: an eastern Mediterranean elm. ''Kew Bulletin'': 499–502, 1957
55. [http://flora.org.il/en/plants/ULMMIN/ Flora of Israel and adjacent areas]
56. (1977). "The new elm species - Ulmus boissieri. New species of Ulmaceae from Iran". Komarov Botanical Institute.
57. Green, Peter Shaw. (1964). "Registration of cultivar names in Ulmus". [[Arnold Arboretum]], [[Harvard University]].
58. Richens, R. H., ''Elm'' (Cambridge 1983), p.83, p. 278
59. Richens, R. H., ''Elm'' (Cambridge, 1983), p. 95, 233
60. (2000). "Identification of native and hybrid elms in Spain using isozyme gene markers". Heredity.
61. (14 May 2013). "Hybridization and introgression between the exotic Siberian elm, ''Ulmus pumila'', and the native Field elm, ''U. minor'', in Italy". Biol Invasions.
62. [http://quercus.mortonarb.org/search.php?plantName=Ulmus&collectionCombo=&accessnbr= The Morton Arboretum Living Collection, ''Ulmus'' list, quercus.mortonarb.org]
63. (1993). "Dutch Elm Disease Research". Springer-Verlag.
64. Richens, R. H., ''Elm'' (Cambridge 1983), p.173; p.293, note 26
65. Richens, R. H., ''Elm'' (Cambridge 1983), p.166, 179
66. Richens, R. H., ''Elm'' (Cambridge 1983)
67. Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh. (2017). ''List of Living Accessions: Ulmus'' [http://elmer.rbge.org.uk/bgbase/livcol/bgbaselivcol.php?cfg=bgbase/livcol/bgbaselivcol.cfg&startrow=26]