Summary
The Field Elm cultivar Ulmus minor 'Viminalis Betulaefolia' (:'birch-leaved') is an elm tree of uncertain origin.[1] An U. betulaefolia was listed by Loddiges of Hackney, London, in the catalogue of 1836,[2][3] an U. campestris var. betulaefolia by Loudon in Arboretum et Fruticetum Britannicum (1838),[4] and an U. betulifolia Booth by the Lawson nursery of Edinburgh (from 1838).[5][6] Henry described an U. campestris var. betulaefolia at Kew in 1913,[3] obtained from Fulham nurseryman Osborne in 1879, as "scarcely different from var. viminalis " (U. minor 'Viminalis').[7] Melville considered the tree so named at Kew a form of his U. × viminalis,[8] while Bean (1988), describing U. 'Betulaefolia', likewise placed it under U. 'Viminalis' as an apparently allied tree.[1] Loudon and Browne had noted that some forms of 'Viminalis' can be mistaken for a variety of birch.[9][10] An U. campestris betulaefolia was distributed by Hesse's Nurseries, Weener, Germany, in the 1930s.[11]
| Ulmus minor 'Viminalis Betulaefolia' | |
|---|---|
| Species | Ulmus minor |
| Cultivar | 'Betulaefolia' |
Henry (1913) also described an U. nitens var. betulaefolia , a cultivar with long, narrow un-birchlike leaves, a herbarium specimen of which from Audley End, Suffolk, is preserved at Kew.[12] Henry did not include this cultivar, represented by a specimen in the Cambridge University Botanic Garden, as a form of 'Viminalis', but both he and Green took it to be a synonym of Loudon's 'Betulaefolia'. Melville determined this tree a triple hybrid, U. carpinifolia gled. × U. plotii Druce × U. glabra Huds..[13]
Description edit
Loudon's U. campestris var. betulaefolia was distinguished by its leaves "somewhat resembling common birch".[14][15] Wesmael's (1863) Ulmus campestris var. nuda subvar. betulaefolia Hort. Vilv. had sharp-pointed double teeth.[16] Bean's U. 'Betulaefolia' was an "elegant" tree with pendulous young branchlets, leaves narrowly obovate, 2–2.5 in. by 1.5, rough above, downy in the vein-axils beneath, with deeply toothed margins, the teeth being narrow, incurved, and often double.[1] Rehder (1938) described 'Betulaefolia' as "a tree of pyramidal habit with ascending branches and elliptic to elliptic-oblong leaves 4 to 8 cm long, narrowed towards the unequal base".[17]
Henry's . U. nitens var. betulaefolia was "a pyramidal tree with ascending branches, with leaves up to 4 in. by 1.5 in., long-acuminate at the apex and narrowing towards a cuneate but unequal base".[13]
Pests and diseases edit
Trees of the U. × viminalis group are very susceptible to Dutch elm disease.
Cultivation edit
No specimens of 'Betulaefolia' are known to survive. There was a specimen at Kew Gardens in the late 19th and early 20th century, obtained from Osborne (1879).[7][3] An U. campestris var. betulaefolia, obtained from Hesse's nursery, Germany, in the 1920s, stood in Morton Arboretum, Illinois. A second tree there, cloned from this and grafted, was renamed Ulmus carpinifolia Gled. cv. 'Betulaefolia', and was still present in the 1990s. It was described as an "irregular" tree, 55 ft tall and 30 ft wide, with fissured grey-brown bark and smooth brown twigs.[18] Arnold Arboretum had a specimen of Ulmus foliacea Gilibert [: U. minor] 'Betulaefolia' in the mid-20th century.[19]
Synonymy edit
References edit
- ^ a b c Bean, William Jackson (1988). Trees and shrubs hardy in Great Britain (8 ed.). London: Murray. p. 659.
- ^ Loddiges, Conrad (1836). "Catalogue of plants, in the collection of Conrad Loddiges & Sons, nurserymen, at Hackney, near London". 13: 35.
- ^ a b c Hand-list of trees and shrubs grown in the Arboretum, Kew Gardens (London, 1902), p.615
- ^ Arboretum et Fruticetum Britannicum, 3: 1376, 1838
- ^ Loudon, J. C., Hortus lignosus londinensis (London, 1838), p.145-6
- ^ The Lawson Company's List, no. IV, Forest Trees & Shrubs, Nov. 1874; Lawson Seed & Nursery Co., Edinburgh & London, p.25
- ^ a b Elwes, Henry John; Henry, Augustine (1913). The Trees of Great Britain & Ireland. Vol. 7. p. 1906.
- ^ Green, Peter Shaw (1964). "Registration of cultivar names in Ulmus". Arnoldia. 24 (6–8). Arnold Arboretum, Harvard University: 41–80. Retrieved 16 February 2017.
- ^ Loudon, Arboretum et Fruticetum Britannicum, 3: 1378, 1838
- ^ Browne, D. J. (1846). The Trees of America. Harper & Brothers, New York.
- ^ Hesse, Hermann Albert (1932). Preis- und Sortenliste. pp. 96–97. Retrieved 18 January 2018.
- ^ U. nitens var. betulaefolia Henry, apps.kew.org "Ulmus nitens v. betulaefolia specimen K000852668". Herbarium catalogue. Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Retrieved 17 October 2016.
- ^ a b Elwes, Henry John; Henry, Augustine (1913). The Trees of Great Britain & Ireland. Vol. 7. p. 1896.
- ^ Loudon (1838), p.1376
- ^ "Herbarium specimen - L.4214747". Botany catalogues. Naturalis Biodiversity Center. Sheet described as U. nitens var. betulaefolia (Cottered, Hertfordshire, 1938, Melville's specimen); "Herbarium specimen - L.1590637". Botany catalogues. Naturalis Biodiversity Center. Sheet described as U. campestris var. betulaefolia (Cambridge, 1930)
- ^ a b Wesmael, Alfred (1862). "Bulletin de la Fédération des sociétés d'horticulture de Belgique". p. 389. hdl:2027/hvd.32044103102810. Retrieved 6 July 2017.
- ^ Rehder, Alfred, 'New Species, varieties ... from the collection of the Arnold Arboretum', Journal of the Arnold Arboretum, vol.19, 1938, p.269
- ^ "Herbarium specimen 15191". Chicago Botanic Garden Herbarium. Sheet labelled Ulmus carpinifolia Gled. cv. 'Betulaefolia'; Morton Arboretum specimen [samarae and new leaves] (1994), from Hesse nursery, Germany, as U. campestris var. betulaefolia
- ^ "Herbarium specimen - L.1587292". Botany catalogues. Naturalis Biodiversity Center. Sheet described as Ulmus foliacea Gilib. [: U. minor] 'Betulaefolia' (Arnold Arboretum, 1930)
- ^ Loudon, J. C., Hortus lignosus londinensis: or, A catalogue of all the ligneous plants, indigenous and foreign, hardy and half-hardy, cultivated in the gardens and grounds ... in the principal nurseries of London and Edinburgh, and at Bollwyller in France, and in Hamburg (London, 1838), p.170