Ulmus 'Myrtifolia'

The elm cultivar Ulmus 'Myrtifolia', the Myrtle-leaved Elm, first appeared in nursery and horticultural lists from the 1830s, as Ulmus myrtifolia and Ulmus campestris myrtifolia,^[1][2][3] the name Ulmus myrtifolia Volxem being used at Kew Gardens from 1880.^[4] Lawson's nursery of Edinburgh appears to have been the earliest to list the tree.^[1] 'Myrtifolia' was listed by Nicholson in Kew Hand-List Trees & Shrubs (1896), but without description.^[5] It was later listed as a cultivar and described by Rehder in 1939^[4] and by Krüssmann in 1962.^[6]

The specimen under this name in the Herb. Nicholson at Kew was considered by Melville to be a probable U. minor × Ulmus minor 'Plotii' hybrid.^[7]

The cultivar 'Myrtifolia Purpurea', which has larger leaves, is not related to 'Myrtifolia'.^[4]

Description[edit]

'Myrtifolia' was described as having leaves ovate or rhombic-ovate to oblong-ovate, 2–5 cm long with nearly simple teeth, loosely pilose on both sides. The petiole is 2 to 4 mm long, the samarae 12 to 15 mm long.

Cultivation[edit]

A 'Mytifolia' was present in North Road, Bath in 1902.^[8] There were specimens at Arnold Arboretum in the mid-20th century, sourced in the 1920s from a tree in Cleveland, Ohio.^[4]

The tree is not known to remain in cultivation.

Putative specimen[edit]

A small, slow-growing, dense-crowned old elm (15 m, girth 2 m), with very small narrow myrtle-like leaves, stands near 90 Lower Granton Rd, Edinburgh (2016), in a garden that was once part of the elm-planted grounds of Wardie House (demolished 1955).^[9] Ulmus campestris myrtifolia appeared in the lists of the adjacent Wardie Nursery (Lawson Nursery group) in the late 19th century,^[3] and Ulmus myrtifolia in the Lawson's of Edinburgh lists from the 1830s.^[10] Its leaves, which flush and fall late,^[11] are lance-shaped or oval (2–4.5 cm by 1.3–2 cm; petioles 0.5–1 cm). The tree, which has smooth branchlets, has been grafted on to a suberose U. minor stock.

• 
  Lower Granton Road tree, Edinburgh, September
• 
  Same, October (front tree; wych behind)
• 
  Samarae and canopy long-shoot leaves
• 
  Pressed short- and long-shoot canopy leaves
• 
  Epicormic long shoot
• 
  Epicormic foliage
• 
  Bark
• 
  Graft-mark

Synonymy[edit]

• Ulmus campestris (: minor) var. myrtifolia Hort.: Nicholson, in Kew Hand-List Trees & Shrubs 2: 135, 1896.
• Ulmus buxifolia Hort.: Nicholson, Kew Hand-List Trees & Shrubs 2: 135, 1896, in synonymy.
• Ulmus procera var. myrtifolia: Bean (1934)^[12]
• Ulmus procera f. myrtifolia: Rehder (1939)^[4]

References[edit]

External links[edit]

• Ulmus Myrtifolia, systematics.mortonarb.org