Ulmus glabra 'Camperdownii'

Infobox Cultivar | name = "Ulmus glabra"

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image_caption = Camperdown Elm, Prospect Park (Brooklyn)
Prospect Park, Brooklyn, New York City.
cultivar = 'Camperdownii'
origin = Camperdown Park, Dundee, ScotlandThe Camperdown Elm "Ulmus glabra" 'Camperdownii' is a cultivar which cannot reproduce from seed.

Description

The grafted Camperdown Elm slowly develops a broad, flat head that may eventually build as high as 4 m (13 feet) and an incommensurately wide crown with a contorted, weeping habit White, J. & More, D. (2002). "Trees of Britain and Northern Europe", Cassell's, London] .

Pests and diseases

A cultivar of the Wych Elm, 'Camperdownii' is susceptible to Dutch Elm disease. However there are still many examples to be found in parks and gardens across the British Isles as it often avoids detection by the "Scolytae" beetle (a major vector of Dutch Elm Disease) because of its diminutive height. In North America it often escapes infection possibly because the American vectors of the disease do not feed on Wych Elm; however its leaves are heavily damaged there by the Elm Leaf Beetle "Xanthogaleruca luteola" [http://www.sunshinenursery.com/survey.htm] , Elm Yellows [http://www.for.nau.edu/hbelm/elm_map.htm] , and disfigured by leaf-mining and leaf-rolling insects, such as the Elm casebearer, "Coleophora ulmifoliella" [http://bugs.osu.edu/~bugdoc/Shetlar/factsheet/ornamental/FSelmcasebearer.htm] .

Cultivation

About 1835 - 1840 (often miscalled as '1640'), the Earl of Camperdown’s head forester, David Taylor, discovered a mutant contorted branch growing along the ground in the forest at Camperdown House, in Dundee, Scotland. The earl's gardener produced the first Camperdown Elm by grafting it to the trunk of a Wych Elm "Ulmus glabra". Every Camperdown Elm in the world is from a cutting taken from that original mutant cutting and is usually grafted on a Wych elm trunk. Other grafting stock has been used, including Dutch Elm "Ulmus × hollandica", Siberian Elm "Ulmus pumila", and English Elm "Ulmus procera" (although this ultimately produces suckers). The tree is grafted at circa 1.5 m above ground level.

Camperdown Elm is cold hardy, suffering more from summer drought than winter cold (to zone 4), although 90% of the University of Minnesota elm trials specimens were lost during the exceptionally severe winter of 2002-2003 Giblin, C. P. & Gillman, J. H. (2006). "Elms for the Twin Cities: A Guide for Selection and Maintenance." University of Minnesota.] . The cultivar requires a large open space in order to develop fully, and so is not recommended for small home grounds. The tree is often confused with the much taller 'Horizontalis' (Weeping Wych Elm) owing to both being given the epithet 'Pendula' at some stage Green, P. S. (1964). Registration of cultivar names in Ulmus. "Arnoldia", Vol. 24, 1964.] .

Camperdown Elms satisfied a mid-Victorian passion for curiosities in the 'Gardenesque' gardens then in vogue. Many examples were planted, as 'rarities', in Britain and America, wherever elite gardens were extensive enough for tree collections (see Arboretum). There are many on university campuses, often planted as memorials. Camperdown Elms are used in stately landscaping of American university campuses, such as at the campus of the University of California, Berkeley, where a number were planted many decades ago. [J.Torrey, A.Kratter et al., "Environmental Impact Report for the Business Administration Building, University of California, Berkeley", Earth Metrics Incorporated, California State Clearinghouse, April, 1989] . The tree was also introduced to Australia, where a number still survive, notably in Victoria.

Notable trees

In Prospect Park, Brooklyn, a ; this tree is considered the outstanding specimen tree in Prospect Park. The UK Champion Trees as listed by TROBI Tree Register Of the British Isles ] are in Scotland, at Baxter Gardens, Dundee, and at Ayr. However, as both measured in excess of 11 m high in 2004, it would appear that the trees are probably 'Horizontalis' (Weeping Wych Elm).

NB. The tree is considered a nothomorph of "U. × hollandica" var. "vegeta" by Green [http://asaweb.huh.harvard.edu:8080/databases/botanists?id=137316] (1964), not "U. glabra" Green, P. S. (1964). Registration of cultivar names in Ulmus. "Arnoldia", Vol. 24, 1964.] .

ynonymy

*"Ulmus montana (: glabra)" var. "pendula": Kirchner [http://asaweb.huh.harvard.edu:8080/databases/botanists?id=102729] , in Petzold [http://asaweb.huh.harvard.edu:8080/databases/botanists?id=102728] & Kirchner, "Arb. Muscav.", 565, 1864.
*"Ulmus montana (: glabra)" var. "pendula camperdownii" Hort.: Henry, in Henry & Elwes, "Trees of Great Britain & Ireland", 7: 1867, 1913.
*"Ulmus montana (: glabra) pendula nova" Hort.: Kirchner, in Petzold & Kirchner, "Arb. Muscav." 565, 1864, name in synonymy.
*"Ulmus scampstoniensis pendula": Petzold, in Petzold & Kirchner, "Arb. Muscav." 565, 1864.

Accessions

North America

*Arnold Arboretum, acc. no. 352-51.
*Bartlett Tree Experts [http://www.bartlett.com/] , acc. nos. 1375, 2002-221.
*Brooklyn Botanic Garden [http://www.bbg.org/cgi/bgbase/search.cgi] , New York, acc. no. 240001.
*Chicago Botanic Garden, Glencoe, Illinois. 1 tree, in the Parking Lots, listed as "U. × vegeta" 'Camperdownii'.
*Gilman Park Arboretum [http://www.ptcnet.net/plantlist.pdf] , Pierce, Nebraska, no. acc. details available.
*Longwood Gardens, acc. no. 2000-1338.
*New York Botanical Garden, acc. no. 529/89.
*Scott Arboretum, acc. no. 70-163
*Smith College, acc. no. 3166PA.
*Washington Park Arboretum

Europe

*Arboretum de La Petite Loiterie [http://lapetiteloiterie.free.fr/html/presentation/especes.html] , Monthodon, France. No details available
*Cambridge Botanic Garden [http://www.botanic.cam.ac.uk/] , University of Cambridge, UK, no accession details available.
*Grange Farm, Sutton St. James, Spalding, Lincolnshire, UK, acc. no. 512.
*Hortus Botanicus Nationalis, Salaspils, Latvia acc. no. 18099.
*Westonbirt Arboretum [http://www.forestry.gov.uk/forestry/infd-62qk8w] ,Tetbury, Glos., UK, no planting date or acc. no. available.

Australasia

*Eastwoodhill Arboretum [http://www.eastwoodhill.org.nz/gardens--collection/collection.aspx?Type=&G=Ulmus] , Gisborne, New Zealand, 3 trees, details not known.

Nurseries

North America

(Widely available)

Europe

(Widely available)

References

External links

* [http://www.treefestscotland.org.uk/website/FavouriteTree.nsf/(HeritageByName)/C7672C6C7B0678DB80256B820056DCDD TreeFest Scotland (with photo)]
* [http://www.parks.ci.portland.or.us/urbanforestry/trees/ULGLca.html Portland urban trees (with photo)]
*http://www.hgtv.com/hgtv/gl_seasonal_winter/article/0,1785,HGTV_3630_1394875,00.html Camperdown Elm]
* [http://www.corm.us/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=102&Itemid=125 Camperdown Elm in Corunna, Michigan's Pine Tree Cemetery (with photo)]