The

American elm ''Ulmus americana'', generally known as the American elm or, less commonly, as the white elm or water elm, is a species of elm native to eastern North America. The trees can live for several hundred years. It is a very hardy species that can ...

cultivar A cultivar is a kind of Horticulture, cultivated plant that people have selected for desired phenotypic trait, traits and which retains those traits when Plant propagation, propagated. Methods used to propagate cultivars include division, root a ...

''Ulmus americana'' 'Beebe's Weeping' was propagated from a tree growing in the wild at

Galena Galena, also called lead glance, is the natural mineral form of lead(II) sulfide (PbS). It is the most important ore of lead and an important source of silver. Galena is one of the most abundant and widely distributed sulfide minerals. It crysta ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

, by Mr. E. Beebe in the mid-19th century. Thomas Meehan, who had received cuttings and called it 'Weeping Slippery Elm' before the flowers revealed that it was not ''Ulmus fulva'', suggested the name 'Beebe's Weeping Elm', as there were already ''U. americana'' clones called 'Pendula'. In the early 20th century it was marketed, however, as ''Ulmus'' 'American Galena Weeping', "American Weeping Elm", by the Klehm nursery of

Arlington Heights, Illinois Arlington Heights is a village in Cook County, Illinois, Cook County Illinois, United States. A northwestern Chicago metropolitan area, suburb of Chicago, it lies about northwest of the city's downtown. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 ...

Description

'Beebe's Weeping' has thick cord-like branches which curve over as they grow, similar to a

Weeping Willow ''Salix babylonica'' (Babylon willow or weeping willow; ) is a species of willow native to dry areas of northern China, Korea, Mongolia, Japan, and Siberia but cultivated for millennia elsewhere in Asia, being traded along the Silk Road to southw ...

, creating a dome of foliage. A very fast growing cultivar, trees planted at

Germantown, Philadelphia Germantown () is an area in Northwest Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Founded by Palatines, Palatine, Quaker, and Mennonite families in 1683 as an independent borough (Pennsylvania), borough, it was absorbed into Philadelphia in 1854. The area, whi ...

, were reputed to gain 6 m (20 ft) per annum. Klehm's top-grafted it at about 8 ft. A photograph of the "weeping willow" form of ''U. americana'' appears in Laney's 'The Types of the American elm' (1908; figure 6).

Pests and diseases

No specific information available, but the species as a whole is highly susceptible to Dutch Elm Disease and Elm Yellows; it is also moderately preferred for feeding and reproduction by the adult Elm Leaf Beetle ''

Xanthogaleruca luteola ''Xanthogaleruca luteola'', commonly known as the elm-leaf beetle, is a beetle species in the family Chrysomelidae that is native to Europe but invasive in other parts of the world.http://cisr.ucr.edu/elm_leaf_beetle.html - Center for Invasive ...

'', and highly preferred for feeding by the Japanese Beetle ''

Popillia japonica The Japanese beetle (''Popillia japonica'') is a species of scarab beetle. Due to the presence of natural predators, the Japanese beetle is not considered a pest in its native Japan, but in North America and some regions of Europe, it is a no ...

'' in the United States. ''U. americana'' is also the most susceptible of all the elms to

verticillium wilt Verticillium wilt is a wilt disease affecting over 350 species of eudicot plants. It is caused by six species of '' Verticillium'' fungi: ''V. dahliae'', ''V. albo-atrum'', ''V. longisporum'', ''V. nubilum'', ''V. theobr ...

.Pegg, G. F. & Brady, B. L. (2002). ''Verticillium Wilts''. CABI Publishing.

Cultivation

Meehan's specimens at Germantown were about 35 ft tall in 1889, with trunks 3.5 ft in girth, suggesting an origins- and planting-date (at 1 inch girth growth a year) of the mid-19th century. A few specimens are known to survive in the United States, mostly in Illinois where the cultivar originated. A curious 'table top' elm growing in the center of Provo,

Utah Utah is a landlocked state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is one of the Four Corners states, sharing a border with Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. It also borders Wyoming to the northea ...

, planted in 1927 and said to be unique, appears to be less vigorous and more lateral-branched than the cultivar.jacobbarlow.com/2014/04/01/oldest-weeping-american-elm-provo-ut/ 'Oldest Weeping American Elm, Provo, UT'

Etymology

Named for Mr. E. Beebe, discoverer of the tree.

Synonymy

*''Ulmus fulva pendula'': Meehan, ''Garden & Forest'' 2: 286, 1889.

References

{{Elm species, varieties, hybrids, hybrid cultivars and species cultivars , state=collapsed American elm cultivar Ulmus