The
wych elm cultivar ''Ulmus glabra'' 'Nitida'
">'shining', an allusion to the smooth upper surface of the leaves the smooth glossy-leaved wych, was described by
Fries from specimens collected by P. C. Afzelius in 1841 on the island of
Stora Karlsö
Stora Karlsö is an island off the west coast of Gotland, Sweden; part of Eksta socken. It is mostly known for its rich birdlife with large colonies of Common murre, common guillemot, and flora. Stora Karlsö is a nature reserve, the second oldest ...
, Sweden,
as ''Ulmus montana nitida'', in ''Novitiae Florae Suecicae: continuatio, sistens Mantissam'' III: 20 (1842).
The ''Novitiae Florae Gotlandicae'' (1844) confirmed ''U. montana'' f. ''nitida''
Fr. as present on the islands of
Stora Karlsö
Stora Karlsö is an island off the west coast of Gotland, Sweden; part of Eksta socken. It is mostly known for its rich birdlife with large colonies of Common murre, common guillemot, and flora. Stora Karlsö is a nature reserve, the second oldest ...
and neighbouring
Lilla Karlsö
Lilla Karlsö is a small Swedish island in the Baltic Sea, situated about off the west coast of Gotland and from Stora Karlsö; it is part of Eksta socken. It has an area of about and is high. Most of the island consists of a limestone plateau ...
off
Gotland
Gotland (, ; ''Gutland'' in Gutnish), also historically spelled Gottland or Gothland (), is Sweden's largest island. It is also a province, county, municipality, and diocese. The province includes the islands of Fårö and Gotska Sandön to the ...
, Sweden, but did not report it from Gotland proper.
A Stora Karlsö specimen from the Herbarium
E. Fries is preserved in the Botanical Museum of
Uppsala.
The tree was listed by
Rehder Rehder is a German surname. Notable people with this surname include the following:
* Alfred Rehder (1863–1949), German-American botanist and Harvard professor
* Elke Rehder (born 1953), German artist
* Harald Alfred Rehder (1907–1996), Ameri ...
as ''U. glabra''
Huds. f. ''nitida'' (1915),
a designation adopted by Krüssmann (1984), the latter copying Rehder's 'Norway' provenance error.
[Krüssmann, Gerd, ''Manual of Cultivated Broad-Leaved Trees & Shrubs'' (1984 vol. 3)]
A smooth-leaved wych occasionally appeared in collections outside Scandinavia.
in ''English Botany; or, Coloured Figures of British Plants. Volume VIII'' (1868) included an ''U. montana'' var. ''nitida''.
''U. minor'' is present on Gotland, leaving open the possibility that Fries's ''Ulmus montana nitida'' was not pure wych.
Description
Krüssmann described f. ''nitida'' as having "leaves smooth above" and glabrous young shoots.
An 1895 herbarium specimen from Lilla Karlsö shows a typical wych leaf with a short petiole, and a samara with seed on stalk side of centre, a feature of unhybridised wych.
Sowerby described var. ''nitida'' as having "all the essential characteristics of ''U. montana''"
ych elmbut with leaves "shining and glabrous above".
Ley (1910) noted that in the
Kew specimen the samara was "rounder at the point than in the type", with the "notch distinct, its basal angle acute, reaching more than one-fifth
f the
F, or f, is the sixth letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''ef'' (pronounced ), and the plural is ''efs''.
Hist ...
way to
heseed cavity".
Pests and diseases
See under wych elm.
Cultivation
The tree was planted in the streets of
Skanör
Skanör is a town in Vellinge Municipality and part of the conurbation Skanör med Falsterbo in southwestern Scania, Sweden. City facilities include hotels, restaurants, a harbour, a medieval church and an elementary school. A greenbelt called ...
, Sweden, in the 19th century.
'Nitida' was described by Rehder (1915) as a form present in Norway (probably an error for Sweden) "and perhaps also in England".
It was cultivated at Kew in the early 20th century as ''Ulmus scabra (glabra)'', the smooth-leaved wych, where it was described by Ley (1910), who had not seen it growing naturally in England.
He later, however, prepared a herbarium specimen of a similar wych elm from
Edmondsham
Edmondsham is a village in the county of Dorset in southern England. It is situated two miles north west of Verwood and ten miles north of Bournemouth. It is sited near the source of a small stream which flows into the River Allen. In the 2001 C ...
, Dorset.
Ulmus glabra nitida (?), herbarium specimen from Edmondsham, Dorset, Oct. 1910, by Rev. Augustin Ley
/ref> Elwes Elwes () is an English surname whose spelling over the years has included Helwish, Helewise, Helwys, Elwaiss, Elwaies and Elway. It may refer to:
* Columba Cary-Elwes (1903–1994), English Benedictine monk
* Elwes baronets, 1660–1787
* Eva Elwes ...
and Henry do not mention the Kew specimen in their 1913 work.
Synonymy
*''Ulmus montana laevigata'' Fries, ''Summa. Veg. Scand.'' 53: 1846
References
External links
* Sheet labelled ''Ulmus montana nitida'' Fr.
{{Elm species, varieties, hybrids, hybrid cultivars and species cultivars , state=collapsed
Wych elm cultivar
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Ulmus