Ulmus 'Louis Van Houtte'

''Ulmus'' 'Louis van Houtte' (Syn. ''Ulmus'' 'Vanhouttei') is believed to have been first cultivated in Ghent, Belgium circa 1863. Boom, B. K.br>
(1959), ''Nederlandse Dendrologie'' 1: 158, 1959
It was first mentioned by Franz Deegen in 1886. It was once thought a cultivar of English Elm ''Ulmus minor'' 'Atinia', though this derivation has long been questioned; W. J. Bean called it "an elm of uncertain status".Bean, W. J. (1988) ''Trees and shrubs hardy in Great Britain'', 8th edition, Murray, London, p. 655 Its dissimilarity from the type and its Belgian provenance make the 'Atinia' attribution unlikely. Fontaine (1968) considered it probably a form of ''U.'' × ''hollandica''.

The cultivar is named for the Belgian horticulturist and plant collector Louis Benoit van Houtte, 1810–1876.

Description

When young, the tree has leaves entirely yellow, a colour retained throughout summer. However, as the tree ages, the colouring may begin a gradual reversion to green. A mature specimen which retained its yellow colouration in the crown stood in Edinburgh's Royal Circus Gardens till the early 1990s. The vertically fissured bark of mature trees is unlike that of English elm, with its squarish scaly fissuring. 'Louis van Houtte' has smaller leaves than the not dissimilar ''Ulmus glabra'' 'Lutescens' (Golden Wych Elm).

File:英國榆 Ulmus procera Louis van Houtte -墨爾本植物園 Royal Botanic Gardens, Melbourne- (10754892616).jpg, 'Louis van Houtte' samarae, Royal Botanic Gardens, Melbourne, Victoria
File:EDIN-BG-1989-07.A.jpg, 'Louis van Houtte' in Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (1989)
file:Ulmus 'Louis van Houtte'. Brighton. 1992.jpg, 'Louis van Houtte', Brighton (July 1992)
file:Ulmus 'Louis van Houtte' in the botanic garden in Christchurch, New Zealand (2).jpeg, Foliage, botanic garden in Christchurch, New Zealand
file:RN Ulmus minor Louis van Houtte leaves (preston manor brighton).JPG, 'Louis van Houtte', Preston Manor, Brighton
file:Ulmus 'Louis van Houtte' in the botanic garden in Christchurch, New Zealand (4).jpeg, Leaves, Christchurch, New Zealand
File:EDIN-BG-1989-07.B.jpg, Bark of 'Louis van Houtte', Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh

Pests and diseases

'Louis van Houtte' is vulnerable to Dutch elm disease (DED). Two specimens planted at Kew Gardens in the Pagoda Vista succumbed very rapidly to the earlier strain of DED in 1931.

Cultivation

Before Dutch elm disease the tree was commonly cultivated in northern Europe. The Späth nursery of Berlin marketed it in the late 19th century as ''U. campestris Louis van Houtte'', under which name it was introduced to the Dominion Arboretum, Ottawa, Canada, in 1898, and to the Ryston Hall arboretum, Norfolk, UK, (planted 1913). In the UK the tree was supplied by Hillier & Sons Nursery of Winchester, Hampshire, as ''U. procera'' 'Vanhouttei' / 'Louis van Houtte'. The tree appeared in the 1902 catalogue of the Bobbink and Atkins nursery, Rutherford, New Jersey, as ''Ulmus aurea Louis van Houtte'', and in Kelsey's 1904 catalogue, New York, as ''U.'' 'Louis van Houtte'. It is less commonly cultivated in Australasia, where the golden wych elm ''Ulmus glabra'' 'Lutescens' has sometimes been mistakenly sold by nurseries under the name 'Louis van Houtte'. The description, "The finest of the golden elms, with a large leaf of a clear golden colour", in the 1918 catalogue of the Gembrook or Nobelius Nursery near Melbourne, suggests 'Lutescens' rather than 'Louis van Houtte'. Three trees in separate locations are known in the British Isles,In Brighton (see Accessions); in Kew's Wakehurst Place collection (hedge form); in the garden of Whitefoord House, Edinburgh (pollarded) (2017). as well as a partial avenue in Aberdeen (see 'Notable trees'). The cultivar remains in commerce at a nursery in the US.

file:RN Ulmus minor Louis van Houtte (dyke road brighton).JPG, 'Louis van Houtte' partially reverting, Brighton
file:Ulmus 'Louis van Houtte' in the botanic garden in Christchurch, New Zealand (3).jpeg, 'Louis van Houtte' labelled a field elm cultivar, Christchurch, New Zealand

Notable trees

Several large trees survive in Sweden, including a specimen in Kristianstad and one, planted c.1890 (girth 3.7 m), in the Serafimerparken, Stockholm (2017). Osborne Place, Aberdeen is lined mostly with 'Louis Van Houtte' planted in 1936.Application for commemorative plaque
Aberdeen City Council (2009)

The largest known tree is an old specimen located in Christchurch Botanic Gardens, New Zealand. The tree has a diameter of 179.9 cm, is 27.7 m high and has an average canopy spread of 31.1 m (2023).

Synonymy

*'Ludwig van Houtte': Spath-Buch, 1720–1920, 229, 1921, in error.
*''Ulmus montana lutescens van Houttei'': Schelle in Beissner et al.
''Handbuch der Laubholz-Benennung'' 86. 1903
in error.
*''Ulmus minor foliis flavescentibus'': Miller
''The Gardeners Dictionary'' ed. 2. 1735
''Ulmus'' no. 8.

Accessions

North America

None known.

Europe

*Brighton & Hove City Council, UK. NCCPG Elm Collection. UK champion: Carden Park, 21 m high, 61 cm d.b.h. (1996).Johnson, Owen (ed.) (2003). ''Champion Trees of Britain & Ireland''. Whittet Press, .
*Grange Farm Arboretum, Lincolnshire, UK. Acc. no. 1134, as ''U. minor'' 'Louis van Houtte'.
*National Botanic Gardens (Ireland), Glasnevin, Dublin. Location A3 (156)
* Wijdemeren city council, Netherlands. Elm collection, one tree planted 2018 Anton Smeerdijkgaarde, Kortenhoef.

Australasia

* Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria (Melbourne), Australia
* Christchurch Botanic Gardens, Christchurch, New Zealand. 1 tree, details not known.
* Eastwoodhill Arboretumbr>
Gisborne, New Zealand, Gisborne, New Zealand. 2 trees, details not known.
* Manukau Cemetery, Papatoetoe, Auckland, New Zealand. 1 tree.

Nurseries

Europe

*Centrum voor Botanische Verrijking vzw, Kampenhout, Belgium.Centrum voor Botanische Verrijking vzw
Voorraadlijst
accessdate: 2 November 2016
* Noordplant Nurserys, Glimmen, Netherlands

North America

*Foothills Nursery, Mt. Airy, North Carolina, United States

Australasia

*Southern Woods Plant Nursery, Christchurch, New Zealand

Notes

References

External links

* Labelled ''U. Louis van Houtte'', Kew specimen, 1885, from Simon-Louis frères, Metz
* dated 1901
* RBGE specimen, 1902
* RBGE specimen, 1902
* RBGE specimen, 1902

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