The

Field Elm ''Ulmus minor'' Mill., 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 ...

cultivar A cultivar is a kind of Horticulture, cultivated plant that people have selected for desired phenotypic trait, traits and which retains those traits when Plant propagation, propagated. Methods used to propagate cultivars include division, root a ...

''Ulmus minor'' 'Hunnybunii' was originally identified as ''U. nitens'' var. ''Hunnybunii'' Moss by

Moss Mosses are small, non-vascular plant, non-vascular flowerless plants in the taxonomic phylum, division Bryophyta (, ) ''sensu stricto''. Bryophyta (''sensu lato'', Wilhelm Philippe Schimper, Schimp. 1879) may also refer to the parent group bryo ...

in ''The Cambridge British Flora'' (1914). 'Hunnybunii' was reputed to have been commonly planted in the parklands and hedgerows of

Essex Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...

Cambridgeshire Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfor ...

, and

Huntingdonshire Huntingdonshire (; abbreviated Hunts) is a local government district in Cambridgeshire, England, which was historically a county in its own right. It borders Peterborough to the north, Fenland to the north-east, East Cambridgeshire to the e ...

before the advent of Dutch elm disease. Melville considered the tree a hybrid of ' Coritana'. The tree was named for C. E. Moss's collaborator, the botanical artist E. W. Hunnybun.

Description

Moss described 'Hunnybunii' as a taller tree than 'Sowerbyi', with the lower branches spreading at right angles, the upper less tortuous; leaves even more asymmetrical at the base, more

acuminate The following terms are used to describe leaf plant morphology, morphology in the description and taxonomy (biology), taxonomy of plants. Leaves may be simple (that is, the leaf blade or 'lamina' is undivided) or compound (that is, the leaf blade ...

at the apex.Lynch, R I. (1915). Trees of the Cambridge Botanic Garden, in ''Journal of the Royal Horticultural Society'' (Ed.: Chittenden), Vol. 41, part 1, p. 17, 1915.

Samara Samara, formerly known as Kuybyshev (1935–1991), is the largest city and administrative centre of Samara Oblast in Russia. The city is located at the confluence of the Volga and the Samara (Volga), Samara rivers, with a population of over 1.14 ...

and leaf drawings by E. W. Hunnybun appear in ''The Cambridge British Flora'' (1914). File:Ulmus nitens var. hunnybuni. Smooth-leaved Elm (02).jpg, Flowers and fruit of 'Hunnybunii', by E. W. Hunnybun (1914)

Pests and diseases

Though susceptible to Dutch Elm Disease,

field elm ''Ulmus minor'' Mill., 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 ...

s produce suckers and usually survive in this form in their area of origin.

Cultivation

Moss in ''The Cambridge British Flora'' (1914) described 'Hunnybunii' as "often planted, as in the grounds of St. John's College, Cambridge". Late 19th and early 20th century photographs of the St John's New Building lawn show elms matching the 'Hunnybunii' description.Photo of elm on St John's New Building lawn, ''101 Views of Cambridge'' (Rock Bros. Publishing, London, 1900) Herbarium specimens from

The Hague The Hague ( ) is the capital city of the South Holland province of the Netherlands. With a population of over half a million, it is the third-largest city in the Netherlands. Situated on the west coast facing the North Sea, The Hague is the c ...

and Wageningen suggest that the tree was cultivated in The Netherlands in the mid-20th century, possibly as part of the elm collection assembled there the 1930s for DED-testing by

Christine Buisman Christine Johanna Buisman (; 22 March 1900 – 27 March 1936) was a Dutch phytopathologist who dedicated her short career to the research of Dutch elm disease and the selection of resistant elm seedlings. In 1927, Buisman provided the final pro ...

, on behalf of the Dutch Elm Committee. No mature specimens are known to survive. Three surviving elms (2021), however, beside Dean Road,

Bartlow Bartlow is a small village and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the South Cambridgeshire district of Cambridgeshire, England, about south-east of Cambridge and west of Haverhill, Suffolk, Haverhill in Suffolk. The River Granta run ...

, near the Cambridgeshire-Essex border, resemble var. 'Hunnybunii' in form. Their leaves appear close to the 1962 Wageningen specimen WAG.1852692 of ''U. carpinifolia'' 'Hunnybunnii'.bioportal.naturalis.nl, specimen WAG.1852692, ''U. carpinifolia'' 'Hunnybunnii'; Wageningen specimen, 1962
/ref> Moss regarded the elm as a variety not a clone, allowing for some variability in leaf-shape. File:St John's College, Cambridge (1910).jpg, Elms matching 'Hunnybunii' description, St John's College, Cambridge (1910) File:Bartlow Elms - geograph.org.uk - 263191.jpg, Dean Road elms, Bartlow, Cambridgeshire (2006)

Varieties

* 'Hunnybunii pseudo-Stricta'

References

{{Elm species, varieties, hybrids, hybrid cultivars and species cultivars , state=collapsed Field elm cultivar Ulmus articles with images Ulmus