Description
The tree is distinguished by its dense, rounded, sometimes flat-topped habit. Augustine Henry, Henry's statement (1913) that "it differs from ordinary ''U. nitens'' [: ''U. minor''] only in its peculiar habit" suggests that, in one form of the tree at least, the leaf is not distinctive. A leaf-specimen labelled ''U. umbraculifera'' held in the herbarium of the National Museum of Natural History (France), Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle appears to confirm this suggestion. However, a leaf-specimen labelled ''U. umbraculifera'' Späth held in the herbarium of the Naturalis Biodiversity Center in Leiden shows that the clone marketed by the Späth nursery had a distinctive, almost rhomboidal leaf. The tree is reputedly always grafted on to ''U. minor'' standards. It grows 5 to 8 ft in diameter in twelve to fifteen years.Klehms' Nurseries, Arlington Heights, Illinois, Price list 1913, p.24Pests and diseases
The tree is as vulnerable to Dutch elm disease as the species.Cultivation
The tree was introduced to the Caucasus, Armenia and Turkestan, and it remains in cultivation in central and south-west Asia. William Jackson Bean, Bean remarked that the tree succeeded well on the continent (Europe) and in eastern North America, but was rarely planted in the UK.Bean, W. J. (1981). ''Trees and shrubs hardy in Great Britain'', 7th edition. Murray, London. Henry (1913) mentions an example at Kew Gardens, obtained in 1904 from Simon-Louis of Metz, France. A specimen stood in the Ryston, Ryston Hall arboretum, Norfolk, in the early 20th century. The tree featured, as "Späth's globe-headed elm", on the cover of the 1913 catalogue of Klehms' nurseries of Arlington Heights, Illinois, with a detailed description. Klehms' propagated the clone in quantity. In 1947 the nearly two-mile long avenue of 30 year-old 'Umbraculifera' along 19th Avenue Boulevard in Moline, Illinois, was described as "the only street of Globe-heads in the country". Introduced to Australia, the tree was marketed in the early 20th century by the Gembrook Nursery near Melbourne, Australia, Melbourne, and by Searl's Garden Emporium, Sydney, Australia, Sydney, but it is not known whether the tree survives in that country. Despite its susceptibility to Dutch elm disease, it remains in commercial cultivation in Belgium and the Netherlands.Putative specimens in Budapest
A field elm cultivar in the People's Park (Budapest), People's Park, Budapest, in the early 20th century, presumably grafted at ground level and trained to a neat cone, illustrated in Möller's ''Deutsche Gärtner-Zeitung'' (1918) as ''Ulmus campestris als Pyramidenbaum'' [:field elm as pyramidal tree], may have been trimmed 'Umbraculifera'.Möller, ''Deutsche Gärtner-Zeitung'', 20 February 1918Varieties
The Field Elm cultivar Ulmus minor 'Umbraculifera Gracilis', ''Ulmus minor'' 'Umbraculifera Gracilis' was obtained as a sport of 'Umbraculifera' by Louis Späth, Späth c.1897-8.Notable trees
Eduard August von Regel, Regel's ''Gartenflora'' (1881) contains an illustration, mentioned by Elwes and Henry in their account of 'Umbraculifera', of a great old tree near Yerevan, Eriwan. An avenue of dense globose trees, considered 'Umbraculifera' by Frank Nicholas Meyer, Meyer at a time when the hybrid Ulmus 'Androssowii', 'Androssowii' determination was unknown, once grew at the Russian imperial estate of Murgrab at Bairam-ali near Merv, formerly Russian Turkestan.Synonymy
*Karagatch, also applied to Central Asian field elms generally and to the hybrid cultivar Ulmus 'Karagatch', ''Ulmus'' 'Karagatch' *Narwan: The common name for 'elm' in Persian, ''nār-van'' [:elm-tree], confusingly similar to the local name for the pomegranate, ''anār-van'' [:pomegranate-tree]. In Tehran, ''Umbraculifera'' is called ''nārvan-e čatrī'' [:canopy-like elm]. *''Ulmus densa'' var. ''nalband'' Talibov *''Ulmus densa'' var. ''bubyriana'': Dmitrij Ivanovitsch Litvinov, Litv., ''Schedae ad Herbarium Florae Rossicae'' 6: 163, no. 1991, ''t.1, 2'', 1908 and ''Schedae ad Herbarium Florae Rossicae'' 8: 23, no. 2444, ''t. 2'', 1922 resp. In the latter, Litvinov described it from a cultivated tree in Samarkand.Hybrid cultivars
* Ulmus × androssowii, ''Ulmus'' × ''androssowii''Accessions
Europe
*Hortus Botanicus Nationalis, Salaspils, Latvia. Acc. no. 18147North America
*Washington Park Arboretum, Seattle, Washington, US. Acc. no. 602-39Nurseries
Europe
*Boomwekerijen 'De Batterijen', Ochten, NetherlandsReferences
External links
* Sheet described as ''U. campestris umbraculifera'' (Späth) * Sheet described as ''U. campestris'' L. f. ''umbraculifera'' Späth * Sheet described as ''U. carpinifolia'' Gled. cv. 'Umbraculifera' (Trautv.) * * * * Sheet described as ''U. campestris umbraculifera'' Späth