Ulmus × hollandica 'Smithii'

Ulmus × hollandica
Herbarium specimen, RBG Kew
Details
Hybrid parentage	U. glabra × U. minor
Cultivar	'Smithii'
Origin	Nottingham, England

Ulmus × hollandica 'Smithii', commonly known as the Downton Elm, was one of a number of cultivars arising from the crossing of the Wych Elm U. glabra with the Field Elm U. minor. The tree was originally planted at Downton Castle[3] near Ludlow, as one of a batch raised at Smith's Nursery, Worcester, England, from seeds obtained from a tree in Nottingham in 1810. Some Victorian writers confused 'Smithii' with U. glabra 'Horizontalis' because both featured weeping branches ^[1].

Description

'Smithii' made a small tree < 10 m high, with ascending branches bearing long pendulous shoots. The oval leaves are dark green and glabrous above, < 8.5 cm long by 4.0 cm wide, long acuminate at the apex ^{[2] [3]}.

Cultivation

Probably extinct, although a small weeping elm grows in one of the car parks of the Seven Sisters Country Park near Friston, East Sussex. With leaves of similar dimensions and texture, it may be an example of 'Smithii', but with no other known survivors for comparison, confirmation is all but impossible.

'Smithii' was grown at the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, and at the National Botanic Gardens [4], Glasnevin, Ireland, before the First World War ^[4].

Synonymy

• Ulmus campestris pendula: Masters Hort. Duroverni 66, 1831
• Ulmus campestris 'Pendula': Krüssmann [5], Handb. Laubgeh. 2, p.53, 1831-32.
• Ulmus × hollandica var. pendula (Loudon) Rehder, Mitt. Deut. Dendr. Ges. 24: 217 (1915 publ. 1916).
• Ulmus glabra var. pendula Loudon, Arb. Frut. Brit.: 1405 (1838).
• Ulmus montana var. Smithii Hort.: Kew
• Ulmus pendula: Masters Hort. Duroverni 66, 1831 (not Willdenow)
• Ulmus Smithii Henry: Elwes, H.J. & Henry, A. 1913. Trees of Great Britain & Ireland. Private publication.

References

1. ^ Hanham, F. (1857). A Manual for the Park (Royal Victoria Park, Bath). Longman, London.
2. ^ Green, P. S. (1964). Registration of cultivar names in Ulmus. Arnoldia, Vol. 24. Arnold Arboretum, Harvard University. [1]
3. ^ Hilliers' Manual of Trees & Shrubs. (1977). David & Charles, Newton Abbot, UK.
4. ^ Elwes, H. J. & Henry, A. (1913). The Trees of Great Britain & Ireland. Vol. VII. pp 1848-1929. Private publication. [2]