List of elm cultivars, hybrids and hybrid cultivars

The starting-points for List of elm cultivars, hybrids and hybrid cultivars were threefold: (1) Green's 'Registration of Cultivar Names in Ulmus ' (1964),^[1] based on the contemporary nomenclature of elm species and wild hybrids; (2) Krüssmann's confirmation or correction of cultivar-names in his monumental Handbuch der Laubgehölze (1976);^[2] and (3) Santamour and Bentz's 'Updated Checklist of Elm (Ulmus) Cultivars for use in North America' (1995).^[3] Since the 1990s there have been many new cultivars, some 'disease-resistant', either species cultivars (e.g. U. minor 'Ademuz', U. americana 'New Harmony') or cultivars with complex hybrid origins, the subject of ongoing trials. Information on these is taken from post-1990 scientific papers (see 'Further reading' below), pteleologists' articles,^[4]^[5]^[6]^[7] and updated handbooks.^[8] There has not yet (2024) been a single recent collation comparable to Green's.

Green and Krüssmann acknowledged their debt to Rehder's list of elm-cultivar synonyms (1949),^[9] and to Schneider (1906),^[10] but the digitisation of older dendrologies, handbooks, and nursery-catalogues^[11]^[12]^[13] added cultivars and cultivation information missed or omitted by these four authorities.^{[note 1]} The list below makes good some of these omissions, additions justified by the survival of extensive elm collections in disease-control locations such as Edinburgh (known to have been stocked from one such nursery^[14]), Brighton, Sweden,^[7] and New Zealand. Australia remains disease-free (2024) and has in quantity both well-known clones (e.g. 'Lutescens') and at least one old cultivar missed by Green and Krüssmann ('Canadian Giant'), as well as others that do not match European 'types'.^[15] "Deliberate planting of selected clones," wrote Spencer (1995) "combined with chance hybridisation, has resulted in a mix of elms [in Australia] rather different from that in England"^[16] (see Elms in Australia).

The older elm cultivars (sometimes called 'varieties') usually bore simple descriptive Latin names (e.g. 'Tortuosa', 'Argenteo-Variegata', 'Stricta') under their contemporary species headings, or, later, under hybrid headings, as hybrids were then understood. Early lists, with no more information than this,^[17] abound, and are a further source for the articles listed below; one of the fullest is, e.g., Beissner's (1903).^[18] Amongst the more discursive treatments, however, that included cultivation-history and subjective comment (and sometimes illustrations), used in articles in this list, were those of Loudon (1838)^[19] and Elwes and Henry (1913) in the UK,^[20] Browne in USA (1851),^[21] Petzold in Germany (1864),^[22] and Fontaine in the Nertherlands (1965).^[23] These more discursive and subjective dendrologists are frequently cited in the articles listed below for information that would have been out of place in Green and Krüssmann.

The turn of the 20th century was the heyday of ornamental elm cultivation,^{[note 2]}^[20]^[24] and Green noted that many cultivars had been inadequately described or illustrated before they were almost wiped out by the catastrophes of two Dutch elm disease epidemics and two world wars. Some had been described only from juvenile specimens whose ultimate size was unknown (e.g. U. minor 'Umbraculifera Gracilis' Späth). The digitisation of university and arboretum herbarium specimens, however, (leaves and fruit), bearing original labels, – a process more advanced, by the 2020s, in European^[25] and American collections^[26] than in those of the UK,^[27]^[28] – and of old photographs of known cultivar-locations (see e.g. 'Atropurpurea'), has confirmed or supplemented the descriptions in many of the listed items. 'Lost' cultivars identified by Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh since 2016 through such old planting-location information,^[14] and through herbarium specimens, – and returned to cultivation, – include U. × hollandica 'Wentworthii Pendula', U. minor 'Umbraculifera Gracilis' Späth, and U. glabra 'Concavaefolia'.^[29]^[30]^[31]

Until the early 20th century, both wych cultivars and those of large-leaved European hybrids were often classified as Ulmus montana.^[11]^[20]^[18] The likely hybrid origin of some of the latter had, however, long been suspected,^[10] English carpenters for example referring to their 'Dutch elm' as 'bastard elm',^[20] while nurserymen knew that popular cultivars like 'Belgica' and 'Vegeta' could be raised reliably only by vegetative propagation or cloning, their seedlings not coming true to type.^[20] The nomenclature of hybrids was systematised by the mid-20th century.^[9] Research leading to the selection and breeding of cultivars resistant to Dutch elm disease was under way in the Netherlands from the 1920s, in the US from the 1930s, in Italy from the 1970s, and in Spain from the 1990s.^[32]

Species cultivars

A weeping elm graft.

Complex hybrids and other crossings

Ulmus 'Amsterdam'. 'Bea Schwarz' × U. minor. Netherlands, before 1950.
Ulmus 'Arno'. 'Plantyn' × U. pumila. Italy, 2006.
Ulmus 'Cathedral'. U. davidiana var. japonica × U. pumila. US, 1994.
Ulmus 'Charisma': See under 'Morton Glossy' = Triumph
Ulmus 'Clusius'. ('Exoniensis' × U. wallichiana) × 'Bea Schwarz' selfed. Netherlands, 1983.
Ulmus 'Columella'. 'Plantyn' × U. minor. Netherlands, 1989.
Ulmus 'Curro'. U. minor R1 × U. minor S22. Spain, 2022. ^[33]
Ulmus 'Den Haag'. U. pumila × 'Belgica'. Netherlands, 1936.
Ulmus 'Dodoens'. ('Exoniensis' × U. wallichiana) selfed. Netherlands, 1973.
Ulmus 'Endeavor'. (U. americana × U. davidiana var. japonica) . US, 2022. ^[34]^[35]
Ulmus 'Europa'. ((U. glabra × U. minor) × 'Commelin'). Netherlands, 2021.
Ulmus 'Fagel'. (U. wallichiana × ‘Commelin’) × (‘Dodoens’ × (U. glabra × U. minor)). Netherlands, 2021.
Ulmus 'Frontier'. U. minor × U. parvifolia. US, 1990.
Ulmus 'Klondike'. 'Plantyn' × 'Wredei'. Netherlands, 2021.
Ulmus 'Homestead'. U. pumila × ('Commelin' × (U. pumila × 'Hoersholmiensis')). US, 1984.
Ulmus 'Karagatch'. U. pumila × U. × androssowii? Turkestan, c. 1910
Ulmus 'Lobel'. ('Exoniensis' × U. wallichiana) × 'Bea Schwarz' selfed. Netherlands, 1973.
Ulmus 'Marga'. U. minor R2 × U. minor S32. Spain, 2022. ^[33]
Ulmus 'Morfeo'. (U. × hollandica × U. minor) × U. chenmoui. Italy, 2010.
Ulmus 'Morton' = Accolade. U. davidiana var. japonica × U. davidiana var. japonica. US, 2000.
Ulmus 'Morton Glossy' = Triumph. 'Morton' = Accolade × 'Morton Plainsman' = Vanguard. US, 2000.
Ulmus 'Morton Plainsman' = Vanguard. U. pumila × U. davidiana var. japonica. US, 2000.
Ulmus 'Morton Red Tip' = Danada Charm. 'Morton' = Accolade open pollination. US, circa 2000.
Ulmus 'Morton Stalwart' = Commendation. 'Morton' = Accolade × (U. pumila × U. minor). US, 2000.
Ulmus 'Nanguen' = Lutèce. 'Plantyn' × ('Bea Schwarz' × 'Bea Schwarz' selfed). Netherlands, 2002.
Ulmus 'New Horizon'. U. davidiana var. japonica × U. pumila. US, 1994.
Ulmus 'Night Rider'. U. davidiana var. japonica × (U. davidiana var. japonica × U. pumila). Canada, 2020.
Ulmus 'Patriot'. 'Urban' × 'Prospector'. US, 1993.
Ulmus 'Plantyn' or 'Plantijn'. ('Exoniensis' × U. wallichiana) × (U. minor × U. minor). Netherlands, 1973.
Ulmus 'Plinio'. 'Plantyn' × U. pumila. Italy, 2002.
Ulmus 'Rageth'. US, before 1954.
Ulmus 'Rebella'. U. parvifolia × U. americana. US, 2011.
Ulmus 'Rebona'. U. davidiana var. japonica × U. pumila. US, 1993.
Ulmus 'Regal'. 'Commelin' × Dutch clone '215' (U. pumila × 'Hoersholmiensis'). US, 1983.
Ulmus 'Repura'. 'Regal' × (U. rubra × (U. pumila × U. davidiana var. japonica)). US, 1993.
Ulmus 'Revera'. 'Regal' × (U. rubra × (U. pumila × U. davidiana var. japonica)). US, 1993.
Ulmus 'San Zanobi'. 'Plantyn' × U. pumila. Italy, 2002.
Ulmus 'Sapporo Autumn Gold'. U. davidiana var. japonica × U. pumila. US, 1975.
Ulmus 'Sapporo Gold 2' (Resista). U. davidiana var. japonica × U. pumila. US, 1990.
Ulmus 'Stavast'. ('Exoniensis' × U. wallichiana) × 'Commelin'. Netherlands, c.1985.
Ulmus 'Urban'. Dutch clone '148' ('Vegeta' × U. minor) × U. pumila. US, 1976.
Ulmus 'Wanoux' = Vada. 'Plantyn' × 'Plantyn' selfed. Netherlands, 2006.
Ulmus 'Wingham'. (((U. wallichiana × U. minor) × (U. pumila × U. minor)) o.p. × (U. × hollandica ‘Vegeta’ × U. minor)) o.p. UK, 2019.
and others without formal hybrid names.

Cultivars of unconfirmed derivation

Elm avenue, Boulevard Saint-Michel, Paris, late 19th century^[36]

Others

Misidentified genus

Pitteurs Pendula

Notes

^ Among extant cultivars missing from Green and Krüssmann are U. glabra Huds. 'Superba' Blandford elm, the largest-leaved wych cultivar; U. glabra Huds. 'Concavaefolia', formerly U. montana var. cucullata, a 'boat'-leaved wych; U. × hollandica 'Canadian Giant', present in quantity in Victoria, Australia; U. × hollandica 'Viminalis' Späth, a narrow-leaved hybrid; Nottingham elm, discussed by Richens (1983); and U. pumila 'Pendula' Meyer, Dragon's Claw elm from northern China.
^ A 1905 survey of tree types along main roads in Belgium found that of the 806,985 trees counted, 294,725 were elms, the most numerous genus. Elwes & Henry (1913), p.1870, note
^ There is no collective name analogous to Ulmus × hollandica or Ulmus × intermedia for crossings of Ulmus pumila and Ulmus minor, though hybrids of this group are common in the wild in Spain and (since Dutch elm disease) in elm-breeding (see Ulmus pumila, 'Cultivation').

References

^ Arnoldia : Bulletin of the Arnold Arboretum, 24 July 1964, Vol 24 Nos 6-8, pp.40-80
^ Krüssmann, Johann Gerd, Handbuch der Laubgehölze (Vol. 3) (Paul Parey, Berlin and Hamburg, 1976); trans. Michael E. Epp, Manual of Cultivated Broad-Leaved Trees and Shrubs (Vol. 3) (Batsford, Timber Press, Beaverton, Oregon, 1984-6), pp.403-413
^ Santamour, Frank S.; Bentz, Susan E. (May 1995). 'Updated Checklist of Elm (Ulmus) Cultivars for use in North America', Journal of Arboriculture. 21 (3); pp.122–131.
^ Tijdgat, M. (2020): Ulmus – Gebruikswaarde- en sortimentsonderzoek in de praktijk. Dendroflora Nr. 56-2020, p.73 Koninklijke Vereniging voor Boskoopse Culturen & Nederlandse Dendrologische Vereniging
^ treesandshrubsonline, Ulmus
^ Ulmen-handbuch; ulmen-handbuch.de
^ ^a ^b Lars Lagerstedt, 'Almar i Sverige', Lustgarden, 2014, pp.53-78
^ Hillier, H. G., & sons. Hilliers' Manual of Trees & Shrubs (1970 - 2002). David & Charles, Newton Abbot, UK.
^ ^a ^b Rehder, Alfred, Bibliography of cultivated trees and shrubs hardy in the cooler temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere (Jamaica Plain, Mass., 1949), pp.135-143
^ ^a ^b Schneider, Camillo Karl, Illustriertes handbuch der laubholzkunde (Jena 1906) pp.212-222
^ ^a ^b e.g. Späth, L., Catalogue 104 (1899–1900; Berlin), p.132-135, one of Späth, L., & sons, Baumschulen Nursery catalogues (1870s –1930s), Berlin.
^ e.g. Hesse, Hermann Albert. Baumschulen: Preis- und Sortenliste. Nursery catalogues (1920s and 1930s). Weener, Germany.
^ e.g. van Houtte, Louis, & son. Cultures de Louis van Houtte: Plantes Vivaces de Pleine Terre. Nursery catalogues of van Houtte & son, 1870s - 1890s. Ghent, Belgium.
^ ^a ^b Accessions book. Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh. 1902. pp. 45, 47.
^ Spencer, Roger, ed., Horticultural Flora of South-Eastern Australia, Vol. 2 (Sydney, 1995), Ulmus, p. 103-118 [1]
^ Spencer, Roger, ed., Horticultural Flora of South-Eastern Australia, Vol. 2 (Sydney, 1995), Ulmus, p.105
^ e.g. Hand-list of trees and shrubs grown in the Arboretum, Kew Gardens (London, 1902), p. 613-625
^ ^a ^b Beissner, Ludwig, Handbuch der Laubholz-Benennung (Berlin 1903), p.82-88
^ Loudon, J. C., Arboretum et Fruticetum Britannicum (London 1838; 2nd edition 1854, pp.1373-1409
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Elwes, H. J., and Henry, A., The trees of Great Britain & Ireland, Vol 7 (London 1913), p.1847-1929
^ Browne, Daniel Jay, The Trees of America (New York, 1851), pp.467-513
^ Petzold, Eduard Carl Adolf, and Kirchner, Arboretum Muscaviense (Muskau, 1864) p. 550-570
^ F. J., Fontaine (1968). "Ulmus". Dendroflora. 5: 37–55. Retrieved 30 August 2017.
^ Bean, William Jackson, Trees and shrubs hardy in the British Isles (London 1916), pp.611-621
^ Netherlands digital herbarium collection; bioportal.naturalis.nl
^ American digital herbarium collections; vplants.org
^ Kew Herbarium's Digital Collection; apps.kew.org
^ Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, Herbarium's Digital Collection; data.rbge.org.uk
^ Max Coleman (5 October 2016). "Full story of the Wentworth elm discovery". Royal Botanic Gardens Edinburgh.
^ Dr Max Coleman, 'Strange fruit offer lifeline to rare elms', Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh; stories.rbge.org.uk
^ Dr Max Coleman, 'Survey of the elms of Holyrood Palace', Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, 22/07/2016 (updated 11/08/16)
^ Mittempergher, L., and Santini, A., 'The history of elm breeding'; researchgate.net
^ ^a ^b Dominguez, J., Macaya-Sanz, D., Gil, L, and Martin, J. A. (2022) Excelling the progenitors: Breeding for resistance to Dutch elm disease from moderately resistant and susceptible native stock. Forest Ecology and Management 511 (2022) 120113. Amsterdam: Elsevier. [2]
^ West, T. P. (2022) Elms, the Good, the Bad and the Ugly. NDSU North Dakota Agricultural Experiment Station. [3]
^ Colleen Zacharias, 'The long game: a better future for new generation of disease-resistant elm trees' 'Endeavor' (photo 3); winnipegfreepress.com 9 Sept. 2022
^ Robinson, William, The parks and gardens of Paris : considered in relation to the wants of other cities and of public and private gardens, being notes on a study of Paris gardens (London, 1883), p.158

List of elm cultivars, hybrids and hybrid cultivars

Contents

Species cultivars

Ulmus alata

Ulmus americana

Ulmus crassifolia

Ulmus davidiana var. japonica

Ulmus glabra

Ulmus laevis

Ulmus minor

Ulmus parvifolia

Ulmus pumila

Hybrids and hybrid cultivars

Ulmus × arbuscula

Ulmus × arkansana

Ulmus × brandisiana

Ulmus davidiana var. japonica × U. minor

Ulmus × diversifolia

Ulmus × hollandica

Ulmus × intermedia

Ulmus × mesocarpa

U. minor × U. pumila