Ulmus Minor 'Umbraculifera Gracilis'

The Field Elm cultivar ''Ulmus minor'' 'Umbraculifera Gracilis' was obtained as a sport of 'Umbraculifera' by the Späth nursery of Berlin c.1897. It was marketed by the Späth nursery in the early 20th century, and by the Hesse Nursery of Weener, Germany, in the 1930s.

Description

The tree is distinguished by its long oval crown, but with thinner branches and smaller leaves than ' Umbraculifera'.

File:EdC-BL-1989-12-A.jpg, 'Umbraculifera Gracilis', Bruntsfield Links, Edinburgh (1989)
Image:Ulmus aff. Plotii - RBGE.jpg, 'Umbraculifera Gracilis', winter, Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh
File:Ulmus minor aff 'Plotii'. Royal Botanic Gardens, Edinburgh (2).jpg, Foliage, RBGE, October
Image:Ulmus minor 'Umbraculifera Gracilis' - Bruntsfield Links, Edinburgh. Nov 2015.jpg, Pressed leaves of Bruntsfield Links specimen
File:Ulmus minor aff 'Plotii'. Royal Botanic Gardens, Edinburgh (4).jpg, Bole, RBGE, showing graft-mark bottom right
File:Ulmus minor aff. 'Plotii'. Whitehouse Loan, Edinburgh (2).jpg, Trunk and branching of Bruntsfield Links tree

Pests and diseases

The cultivar is susceptible to Dutch elm disease.

Cultivation

The only known surviving specimens are in the United States and Scotland (see 'Accessions' and 'Notable trees'). Henry (1913) mentions no example at Kew, though a specimen had been planted there by 1902. A specimen obtained from Späth stood in the Ryston Hall arboretum, Norfolk, in the early 20th century. 'Umbraculifera Gracilis' has been included in the propagation programme (2017) of Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh.

file:Ulmus aff. Plotii Edinburgh - Bruntsfield Links - April 2015.jpg, 'Umbraculifera Gracilis', Bruntsfield Links, Edinburgh (April 2015)
File:Ulmus minor aff 'Plotii'. Whitehouse Loan, Edinburgh (2).jpg, Same (October 2016)
File:Ulmus minor aff. 'Plotii'. Whitehouse Loan, Edinburgh (1).jpg, Bark and foliage of same
File:Ulmus minor 'Umbraculifera Gracilis', Edinburgh, October 2014.jpg, Early autumn colour of same (2014)

Putative specimen

A slow-growing, dense-crowned old elm (15 m, girth 2 m), with leaves resembling those of 'Umbraculifera Gracilis', stood near Lower Granton Rd, Edinburgh till 2025, in a garden that was once part of the grounds of Wardie House (demolished 1955). It was assumed to have been grown from a cutting from one of Edinburgh's three original specimens.Around Edinburgh - Lower Granton Road and Wardie from Granton Harbou
Around Edinburgh - Lower Granton Road and Wardie from Granton Harbour
accessdate: August 12, 2016

File:Possible Ulmus 'Myrtifolia'.jpg, Lower Granton Road tree, Edinburgh, September
File:Possible Ulmus 'Myrtifolia'. Edinburgh (1).jpg, Same, October (front tree; wych behind)
File:Leaves and samarae of possible Ulmus 'Myrtifolia'.jpg, Samarae and canopy long-shoot leaves
File:AZ0005 Ulmus. Lower Granton Road, Edinburgh.jpg, Pressed short- and long-shoot canopy leaves
File:Possible Ulmus 'Myrtifolia'. Edinburgh (3).jpg, Epicormic long shoot
File:Possible Ulmus 'Myrtifolia'. Edinburgh (4).jpg, Epicormic foliage
File:Possible Ulmus 'Myrtifolia'. Edinburgh (2).jpg, Bark
File:Possible Ulmus 'Myrtifolia'. Edinburgh (5).jpg, Graft-mark

Notable trees

Three trees supplied by Späth to the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (RBGE) in 1902 as ''U. campestris umbraculifera gracilis'' survive in Edinburgh (2019). The two oldest, planted in the Garden itself (one of which is base-grafted), were long known by an updated version of Melville's name for them, ''U. plotii'' × ''U. carpinifolia'' Sheet described as ''U. campestris umbraculifera'' (RBGE specimen C2717); renamed ''U. plotii'' × ''U. carpinifolia'' by Melville (:''U. minor'' 'Plotii' × ''U. minor''). It is known that Melville renamed some of Späth's trees at RBGE in 1958. These two were, according to one RBGE herbarium sheet, formerly called ''U. campestris umbraculifera'', the name of the parent tree (not present in RBGE) of 'Umbraculifera Gracilis'. A herbarium specimen from Amsterdam labelled ''U. carpinifolia'' Gled. f. 'Gracilis' var. (Späth) Rehd. matches the Edinburgh trees. Taken together, the evidence suggested that the three Edinburgh trees (the third, with smaller bole-girth, is on Bruntsfield Links) were the clone Späth supplied as ''U. campestris'' 'Umbraculifera Gracilis', an identification confirmed in 2016 by RBGE. It is not known why Melville was permitted to disregard the trees' documented Central Asian provenance, and pronounce them hybrids of Plot Elm, a local variety of English field elm.

File:Edinburgh RBG- Ulmus No.1A.jpg, The second, ungrafted, RBGE 'Umbraculifera Gracilis' (1989)
File:Ulmus minor aff 'Plotii'. Royal Botanic Gardens, Edinburgh (1).jpg, Same (October 2016)

Synonymy

*''Ulmus carpinifolia'' var. ''gracilis'': Krüssmannbr>
''Handbuch der Laubgehölze'' 2: 534, 1962.
*''Ulmus camp. umbraculifera nova''

Accessions

North America

*Holden Arboretum, US. Acc. no. 60-164

Europe

*Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, UK. Acc. nos. 19699358, 19699365

Nurseries

Europe

*Centrum voor Botanische Verrijking vzw, Kampenhout, Belgium. ('Umbraculifera' listed separately to 'Umbraculifera Gracilis').Centrum voor Botanische Verrijking vzw
Voorraadlijst
accessdate: November 2, 2016
*Baumschulen Bauch GbR, Rheinbach, Germany. Baumschulen Bauch GbR
Sortimentsliste 2016-17
accessdate: November 2, 2016

References

{{Elm species, varieties, hybrids, hybrid cultivars and species cultivars , state=collapsed

Field elm cultivar
Ulmus
Ulmus Edinburgh Spath 1902