Ulmus elliptica

''Ulmus elliptica'' Koch (named for the elliptic samara) is a disputed species of elm, native to the Caucasus, where Koch reported (1849, 1872) that it formed extensive woods, and ranging north to southern Ukraine. The tree is said to be closely related to ''U. glabra'', but to resemble ''U. rubra'' in its samara (see Description below). Many authorities consider ''U. elliptica'' Koch just a regional form of ''U. glabra'', though Henry, Bean and Krüssman list the Caucasus tree as a species in its own right.''U. elliptica'' is discussed under the ''U. fulva'' heading in Elwes & Henry (1913).
''U. elliptica'' Koch is distinguished from ''U. scabra'' Mill. ''U. glabra''in some Armenian and Russian plant lists.

For a time, the Späth nursery, Berlin, distributed a disputed cultivar, ''U. Heyderi'', as a synonym of ''U. elliptica'' Koch (see Cultivation below).

Description

''U. elliptica'' was said by Henry to resemble ''U. glabra'' in size, form, leaf, petiole and branchlets, but to resemble ''U. rubra'' in its samara, pubescent only over the seed. Henry noted one other difference from ''U. glabra'' – a smooth leaf – and two differences from ''U. rubra'', the samara of the latter being "much smaller" than that of ''U. elliptica'', and the branchlets of the latter having tubercles where those of ''U. elliptica'' are smooth. Bean added that ''U. elliptica'' differed from ''U. glabra'' in the "rusty hairs on the buds and the ciliate leaves" and from ''U. rubra'' in having less fissured bark, thinner and more sharply toothed leaves, and "more elongate" samarae. Krüssman gives the leaf-size of ''U. elliptica'' as 8–14 cm long.

Image:Ulmus elliptica samara.jpg, ''U. elliptica'' samara

Pests and diseases

Unknown.

Cultivation

''U. Heyderi'', Späth's cultivar name for ''U. elliptica'' Koch, appeared in the nursery's catalogues from 1883. It was described as having "large, long, rough, downy leaves". One tree was planted in 1896 as ''U. elliptica'', Koch; syns. ''U. Heyderi'', Spaeth; ''U. sibirica'', Hort., at the Dominion Arboretum, Ottawa, Canada. Späth supplied the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh in 1902 with three specimens each of ''U. fulva'' ''U. rubra''and ''U. Heyderi''. The latter may survive 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. A tree listed as ''U. elliptica'' stood in the Ryston Hall arboretum, Norfolk, in the early 20th century.

Henry, stressing the differences between ''U. elliptica'' and ''U. rubra'', held (1913) that Späth's ''U. Heyderi'' was, by some error, ''U. rubra''. He believed that ''U. elliptica'' Koehne (1893) was described from Späth's ''U. Heyderi'', not from the Caucasus species, and that the ''U. elliptica'' of Koehne (1893), of Schneider (1904), and of Ascherson and Graebner (1911), was ''U. fulva'' ''U. rubra'' Späth's 1903 catalogue, indeed, queried whether ''U. Heyderi'' was after all synonymous with ''U. elliptica'' Koch. By 1930 he had removed ''U. Heyderi'' from his catalogue but added ''U. elliptica'' Koch, as a tree from the Causasus. Krussman (1983) concluded that the cultivation status of ''U. elliptica'' Koch / ''U. Heyderi'' was uncertain, since it had been confused with ''U. rubra''. Green in his 'Registration of cultivar names in Ulmus' ignored ''U. Heyderi'', as a species synonym.

File:Royal_Botanic_Garden_Edinburgh._(1902)._Accessions_book_pages_45,47.jpg, The RBGE 1902 accessions page showing separate entries for ''U. Heyderi'' and ''U. fulva'' ''U. rubra''

Etymology

The origin of the cultivar name 'Heyderi' is unknown, though the tree may be named for Edward Heyder (1808-1884) of Berlin. In the Armenian language (one of the common languages of Caucasus region Koch visited) adding ի (pronounced as long 'ē' sound) to a proper noun makes that noun possessive. So 'Heyderi' or 'Հեյդերի' would be the possessive form, making ''Ulmus Heyderi'' loosely translate to ''Heyder's Elm''.

Synonymy

*''Ulmus Heyderi'' Späth isputed

Accessions

North America

* Dominion Arboretum, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Accession no. 2590

Notes

References

External links

''U. elliptica'' Koch Chicago Botanic Garden, swbiodiversity.org
* Sheet labelled ''U. elliptica'' Koch (1900)
* Sheet labelled ''U. elliptica'' Koch (1909)
* Sheet labelled ''U. elliptica'' Koch, Tiflis (1909)
* Sheet labelled ''U. elliptica'' Koch
* Leaves and samarae. Sheet labelled ''U. elliptica'' Koch f. ''pubescens'' Teberda, Caucasus (1908)

{{Taxonbar, from=Q4130196

elliptica
Controversial elm taxa
Ulmus articles missing images
Ulmus Edinburgh Spath 1902