The

American elm ''Ulmus americana'', generally known as the American elm or, less commonly, as the white elm or water elm, is a species of elm native to eastern North America, naturally occurring from Nova Scotia west to Alberta and Montana, and south to F ...

cultivar A cultivar is a type of cultivated plant that people have selected for desired traits and when propagated retain those traits. Methods used to propagate cultivars include: division, root and stem cuttings, offsets, grafting, tissue culture ...

''Ulmus americana'' 'Augustine', originally called 'Augustine Ascending', was cloned by Archie M. Augustine of the Augustine Nursery of Bloomington,

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rockf ...

, from a nursery seedling planted in 1927 in

Normal, Illinois Normal is a town in McLean County, Illinois, United States. As of the 2020 census, the town's population was 52,736. Normal is the smaller of two principal municipalities of the Bloomington–Normal metropolitan area, and Illinois' seventh most ...

, and found to be columnar in habit.H. R. Kemmerer, 'The Augustine Ascending Elm', ''Flower and Garden Magazine'', Jan. 1959, Vol.3 No.1, p.40
/ref> See also the similar cultivars 'Columnaris' and 'Ascendens'. It is not known why such a promising clone as 'Ascendens' appears rare in cultivation, but 'Augustine Ascending' was released at about the same date. Neither

Green Green is the color between cyan and yellow on the visible spectrum. It is evoked by light which has a dominant wavelength of roughly 495570 nm. In subtractive color systems, used in painting and color printing, it is created by a combi ...

nor Santamour suggested that they were synonyms.

Description

'Augustine' is a vigorous fastigiate tree distinguished by its thicker branches and larger, more deeply toothed leaves.Photograph of 'Augustine' elms on the National Mall, Washington DC: 'Elms of the Monumental Core', James L. Sherald, National Park Service (2009), p.36
/ref> ''Flower and Garden Magazine'' reported that the original tree was still standing in 1959 and – erroneously – that the cultivar did not produce seed. The deep root-system of the cultivar was said to be less likely to damage sidewalks than American elm generally.

Pests and diseases

'Augustine' has proven particularly susceptible to

Dutch elm disease Dutch elm disease (DED) is caused by a member of the sac fungi (Ascomycota) affecting elm trees, and is spread by elm bark beetles. Although believed to be originally native to Asia, the disease was accidentally introduced into Americas, America ...

, exhibiting 36% crown dieback in one year after inoculation with the pathogen.Townsend, A. M., Bentz, S. E., and Douglass L. W. (2005)
Evaluation of 19 American Elm Clones for Tolerance to Dutch Elm Disease
. ''Journal of Environmental Horticulture'', March 2005, Horticultural Research Institute, Washington, D.C. The species is also highly susceptible to

Elm Yellows Elm yellows is a plant disease of elm trees that is spread by leafhoppers or by root grafts."Elm Yellows." Elmcare.Com. 19 Mar. 2008 . Elm yellows, also known as elm phloem necrosis, is very aggressive, with no known cure. Elm yellows occurs in th ...

and is also moderately preferred for feeding and reproduction by the adult Elm Leaf Beetle ''

Xanthogaleruca luteola ''Xanthogaleruca luteola'', commonly known as the elm-leaf beetle, is a beetle species in the family Chrysomelidae that is native to Europe but invasive in other parts of the world.http://cisr.ucr.edu/elm_leaf_beetle.html - Center for Invasive Sp ...

'', and highly preferred for feeding by the Japanese Beetle '' Popillia japonica'' in the United States. ''U. americana'' is also the most susceptible of all the elms to

verticillium wilt Verticillium wilt is a wilt disease affecting over 350 species of eudicot plants. It is caused by six species of '' Verticillium'' fungi: ''V. dahliae'', ''V. albo-atrum'', ''V. longisporum'', ''V. nubilum'', ''V. theobromae'' and ''V. tricorp ...

.Pegg, G. F. & Brady, B. L. (2002). ''Verticillium Wilts''. CABI Publishing.

Cultivation

As well as being planted originally as a highway elm in Illinois in locations such as Winnetka and

Cicero Marcus Tullius Cicero ( ; ; 3 January 106 BC – 7 December 43 BC) was a Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, philosopher, and academic skeptic, who tried to uphold optimate principles during the political crises that led to the esta ...

(where a two-and-a-half mile median strip in a highway was lined with the cultivar), by 1956 55,000 'Augustine' were reported thriving in thirty-eight states.Ralph B. Bryan, 'A new elm for home planting', ''Flower Grower'' magazine, Oct. 1956, p.69
/ref> 'Augustine' was among the elms planted in the

United States National Arboretum The United States National Arboretum is an arboretum in northeast Washington, D.C., operated by the United States Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Research Service. It was established in 1927 by an act of Congress after a campaign by USDA ...

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

, and, in the 1960s, in the National Mall, where despite Dutch elm disease 32 were still standing in 2007 and 20 in 2018. The tree is not known to have been cultivated beyond the United States, where it is no longer in commerce.

Synonymy

*'Augustine Ascending': Weston, in ''Horticulture'', II.30: 448, 1952.

Accessions

North America

Longwood Gardens Longwood Gardens is a botanical garden that consists of over 1,077 acres (436 hectares; 4.36 km2) of gardens, woodlands, and meadows in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania, United States in the Brandywine Creek Valley. It is one of the premier h ...

, US. Acc. no. 1959-2682. * Bartlett Tree Experts, U

Acc. nos. 1368, L 332, (as 'Augustine Ascending'). *

, US. Acc. no. 62665.

References

{{Elm species, varieties, hybrids, hybrid cultivars and species cultivars , state=collapsed American elm cultivar Ulmus