Ulmus 'Turkestanica'

The elm cultivar ''Ulmus'' 'Turkestanica' was first described by Regel as ''U. turkestanica'' in Dieck, ''Hauptcat. Baumschul. Zöschen'' (1883) and in ''Gartenflora'' (1884). Regel himself stressed that "''U. turkestanica'' was only a preliminary name given by me; I regard this as a form of ''U. suberosa''" ''U._minor''_.html"_;"title="Ulmus_minor.html"_;"title="Ulmus_minor">''U._minor''_">Ulmus_minor.html"_;"title="Ulmus_minor">''U._minor''__ ''U._minor''_.html"_;"title="Ulmus_minor.html"_;"title="Ulmus_minor">''U._minor''_">Ulmus_minor.html"_;"title="Ulmus_minor">''U._minor''__Dmitry_Litvinov">Litvinov_(''Schedae_ad_Herbarium_Florae_Rossicae'',_1908)_considered_''U._turkestanica''_Regel_a_variety_of_his_Ulmus_'Densa'.html" ;"title="Dmitry_Litvinov.html" ;"title="Ulmus_minor">''U._minor''_.html" ;"title="Ulmus_minor.html" ;"title="Ulmus minor">''U. minor'' ">Ulmus_minor.html" ;"title="Ulmus minor">''U. minor'' Dmitry Litvinov">Litvinov (''Schedae ad Herbarium Florae Rossicae'', 1908) considered ''U. turkestanica'' Regel a variety of his Ulmus 'Densa'">''U. densa'' (now considered in Russia a form of field elm), adding that its fruits were "like those of ''U. foliacea'' Gilibert" [:''U. minor''].''Schedae ad Herbarium Florae Rossicae'', 1908; 6: 164Sargent, Charles Sprague, ed., ''Plantae Wilsonianae: an enumeration of the woody plants collected in western China for the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University during the years 1907, 1908, and 1910 by E. H. Wilson'' (Cambridge, Mass., 1917), vol.3, p.262
/ref>

'Turkestanica' was distributed in Europe as ''U. turkestanica'' Regel by the Späth nursery of Berlin from c.1890,Späth, L., Catalogue 104 (1899–1900; Berlin), p.134
/ref> in whose catalogues it was listed separately from ''U. pinnato-ramosa'', now ''U. pumila'' 'Pinnato-ramosa', and from ''U. campestris umbraculifera''. It was later confused with these two – with 'Pinnato-ramosa' by Elwes and Henry (1913) and Krüssmann (1976), and with 'Umbraculifera' by Green (1964).

Description

Späth in his catalogues described ''U. turkestanica'' Regel as "a densely growing, small-leaved tree". ''Ulmus'', formerly labelled ''U. turkestanica''; Wageningen Arboretum specimen (1929) Litvinov (1908) noted that it had branchlets like those of ''Ulmus pumila'' but typical field-elm fruit, up to 2 cm long by 1.2 cm wide. Melville noted (1958) that the specimen of ''U. turkestanica'' at Kew had "frond-like leading shoots".Melville's annotation, Oct. 1958, in the RBGE Cultivated Herbarium Accessions Book, alongside entry C2697, area G2, the RBGE ''U. turkestanica''

Pests and diseases

Not known.

Cultivation

One tree was planted as ''U. turkestanica'' Regel, 'Turkestan Elm', in 1899 at the Dominion Arboretum, Ottawa, Canada, where it was distinguished from ''U. pinnato-ramosa''. A specimen of ''U. turkestanica'' Regel was present at Kew from the early 20th century to at least the 1950s, again distinguished from ''U. pinnato-ramosa''. Three ''U. turkestanica'' Regel (as well as three 'Pinnato-ramosa') were supplied in 1902 by Späth to the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh. One was planted at the Benmore garden in Argyll in 1902, and survives (2020) as a sucker or cutting of the original. Following Green's confusion of 'Turkestanica' and 'Umbraculifera', the Benmore tree was believed for a time to be 'Umbraculifera'. 'Umbraculifera', however, though present in Späth's catalogues, does not appear in the RBGE 1902 accessions list from Späth. Being grafted, it does not sucker. In 2004 the tree was again misidentified by the Garden as ''U. pumila'' L. var. ''arborea'' Litv. (a synonym of 'Pinnato-ramosa'), though the leaves do not match those of the latter cultivar. An ''U. turkestanica'' stood till 1993 in RBGE itself, near the ''U. pinnato-ramosa''. This was also a small tree; it produced suckers, and may itself have been sucker regrowth from tree C2697, one of the 1902 'Turkestanica' Regel from Späth. A specimen of 'Turkestanica' Regel stood in the Arboretum national des Barres, Nogent-sur-Vernisson, France, in the 20th century, where it was distinguished from 'Pinnato-ramosa'. It was listed there under the queried synonym of ''Ulmus campestris turkestanica'', suggesting that the Arboretum thought it possibly a field elm cultivar.

A 'Turkestanica' obtained from Späth before 1914, and planted in 1916, stood in the Ryston Hall arboretum, Norfolk, in the early 20th century. (The arboretum's list also includes 'Umbraculifera' but not 'Pinnato-ramosa'.) A 'Turkestanica' (listed separately from 'Umbraculifera'), "a compact grower with smallish leaves", appeared in early 20th-century catalogues of the Gembrook or Nobelius Nursery near Melbourne, Australia. The description is the one used by Späth for ''U. turkestanica'' Regel. 'Pinnato-ramosa' (not in the Nobelius catalogue) is, by contrast, a rather loosely-branched tree, so the Nobelius introduction may have been Regel's tree.

By the 1930s, when 'Pinnato-ramosa' was being recommended as resistant to early-strain Dutch elm disease,Clinton, G. P., McCormick, Florence A., ''Dutch elm disease, Graphium ulmi'' (New Haven, 1936), p.737, p.710
/ref> the "Turkestan elm" in nursery lists, as descriptions show, was usually this Siberian elm cultivar, not Regel's field elm. A 1929 Dutch herbarium specimen renames Regel's clone "Unknown ''Ulmus'', formerly known as ''U. turkestanica''", reflecting this change in nomenclature. The Hesse Nursery of Weener, Germany, sold an "''Ulmus turkestanica'' Reg." in the 1930s, but gave as a synonym ''U. pumila arborea'' Litv., another name for 'Pinnato-ramosa', confirming that their tree was not Regel's field elm clone.

Putative specimens

A tall suckering field elm with leaves matching those of the Benmore specimen, and with the "frond-like leading shoots" described by Melville, stands in Carlton Terrace Gardens, Edinburgh, above Carlton Terrace Brae.

File:Ulmus (possibly minor). Carlton Terrace Brae, Edinburgh (3).jpg, Possible 'Turkestanica', Edinburgh (2016)
File:Ulmus (possibly minor). Carlton Terrace Brae, Edinburgh (4).jpg, Bole and suckers
File:AZ0054 Ulmus. Carlton Terrace Gardens, Edinburgh.jpg, Pressed autumn leaves
File:AZ0054 Ulmus. Carlton Terrace Gardens elm spring.jpg, Spring silhouette
File:AZ0054 Ulmus. Carlton Terrace Gardens elm samara.jpg, Samara
File:Ulmus (possibly minor and suckers from adjacent tree). Carlton Terrace Brae, Edinburgh.jpg, Young trees grown from suckers, showing frond-like leading shoots

Synonymy

* ''Ulmus suberosa'' var. ''turkestanica''
* ''Ulmus campestris turkestanica'' (?)
* ''Ulmus campestris'' var. ''laevis'' Regel (1879)''Act. Hort. Petrop.'', 6:477 (1879) (Litvinov, 1908)

Accessions

Europe

*Royal Botanic Garden Benmore, UK, as ''U. turkestanica'' Regel, Acc. no. 19021007; currently listed (2024) as ''U. pumila'' var. ''arborea'' Litv.RBGE Living Collection, data.rbge.org.uk
/ref>

North America

*Dominion Arboretum, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Accession no. 2626

References

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

Elm cultivars
Ulmus articles missing images
Ulmus
Ulmus Edinburgh Spath 1902