The Elm cultivar ''Ulmus'' 'Myrtifolia Purpurea', the Purple Myrtle-leaved Elm, was first mentioned by Louis de Smet of Ghent (1877) as ''Ulmus myrtifolia purpurea''. An ''U. campestris myrtifolia purpurea'' Hort. was distributed by Louis van Houtte in the 1880s,''Cultures de Louis van Houtte: Plantes Vivaces de Pleine Terre''
''Catalogue de Louis van Houtte, 1881-2'', p.303 by the

Späth nursery The Späth (often spelt ''Spaeth'') family created one of the world's most notable plant nurseries of the 19th and early 20th centuries. The nursery had been founded in 1720 by Christoph Späth but removed to the erstwhile district of Baumschulen ...

, Berlin, in the 1890s and early 1900s, and by the Hesse Nursery, Weener, Germany, till the 1930s.

Schneider Schneider may refer to: Hospital * Schneider Children's Medical Center of Israel People * Schneider (surname) Companies and organizations * G. Schneider & Sohn, a Bavarian brewery company * Schneider Rundfunkwerke AG, the former owner of th ...

,''Illustriertes Handbuch der Laubholzkunde'', 1:220, 1904
/ref> Henry, and Green believed 'Myrtifolia Purpurea' a synonym of ''U. minor'' 'Purpurascens', which was also first listed in 1877. The cultivar ''U.'' 'Myrtifolia' is not related to 'Myrtifolia Purpurea'.

Description

The catalogue of the Späth nursery described ''U. campestris myrtifolia purpurea'' as having very small reddish leaves. File:Ulmus minor 'Purpurascens'. Radinden Manor Road, Hove. Leaves.jpg, Leaves of Radinden Manor Road tree, Hove.

Pests and diseases

Not known.

Cultivation

'Myrtifolia Purpurea' was occasionally cultivated as an ornamental. One tree was planted in 1893, as ''U. campestris myrtifolia purpurea'', at the

Dominion Arboretum The Dominion Arboretum (french: Arboretum du Dominion) is an arboretum part of the Central Experimental Farm of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Originally begun in 1889, the Arboretum covers about of rolling land ...

Ottawa Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...

, Canada. Three specimens were supplied by the Späth nursery to the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh in 1902 as ''U. campestris myrtifolia purpurea'', and may still exist in Edinburgh as it was the practice of the Garden to distribute trees about the city (viz. the Wentworth Elm); the current list of Living Accessions held in the Garden ''per se'' does not list the plant. ''U. myrtifolia purpurea'', a small tree with "elegant foliage of beautiful color", appeared in the 1902 catalogue of the Bobbink and Atkins nursery, Rutherford, New Jersey, and in Kelsey's 1904 catalogue, New York.

Notable trees

Three small-leaved purple-flushing elms survive in Hove, one of them the UK champion (see 'Accessions'). Until 2018 one was misidentified as the large-leaved purple elm ''U.'' × ''hollandica'' 'Purpurascens'. Of the two names for small-leaved purple-flushing elm – ''U.'' 'Myrtifolia Purpurea' and ''U. minor'' 'Purpurascens' (likely synonyms) – the former was the commoner in nursery lists.

Accessions

;Europe *

Brighton & Hove Brighton and Hove () is a city and unitary authority in East Sussex, England. It consists primarily of the settlements of Brighton and Hove, alongside neighbouring villages. Often referred to synonymously as Brighton, the City of Brighton and H ...

City Council, UK.

NCCPG Plant Heritage, formerly known as the National Council for the Conservation of Plants and Gardens (NCCPG), is a botanical conservation organisation in the United Kingdom and a registered charity. It was founded in 1978 to combine the talents of b ...

Elm Collection. Cottesmore St. Mary School, Hove (1 tree, National Champion, 18 m high, 51 cm

d.b.h. Diameter at breast height, or DBH, is a standard method of expressing the diameter of the trunk or bole of a standing tree. DBH is one of the most common dendrometric measurements. Tree trunks are measured at the height of an adult's breast, ...

in 1993Johnson, O. (2011). ''Champion Trees of Britain & Ireland'', p. 168. Kew Publishing, Kew, London. ); Brighton & Hove Prep School, Radinden Manor Rd, Hove (1 tree); Davigdor Road, Hove (1 tree).

Synonymy

*''U. minor'' 'Purpurascens': Schneider, Henry, Green.

References

{{Elm species, varieties, hybrids, hybrid cultivars and species cultivars , state=collapsed Elm cultivars Ulmus articles with images Ulmus Ulmus Edinburgh Spath 1902