Ulmus villosa
| Ulmus villosa | |
|---|---|
.JPG) | |
| Ulmus villosa, Kew | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| (unranked): | Angiosperms |
| (unranked): | Eudicots |
| (unranked): | Rosids |
| Order: | Rosales |
| Family: | Ulmaceae |
| Genus: | Ulmus |
| Species: | U. villosa |
| Binomial name | |
| Ulmus villosa Brandis ex Gamble | |
| Synonyms | |
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Ulmus villosa Brandis ex Gamble, the cherry-bark elm or Marn elm, is one of the more distinctive Asiatic elms, and a species capable of remarkable longevity. It is endemic to the valleys of the Kashmir at elevations of 1200–2500 m but has become increasingly rare owing to its popularity as cattle fodder, and mature trees are now largely restricted to temples and shrines where they are treated as sacred.[1] Some of these trees are believed to be aged over 800 years. [2]
Description
Growing up to 25 m high, the tree is rather lightly and pendulously branched, the bark smooth with distinctive horizontal bands of lenticels, although it eventually becomes very coarsely furrowed.[3] The oblong-elliptic-acute leaves are < 11 cm long by 5 cm broad. The wind-pollinated apetalous flowers appear in spring, and are particularly densely clustered, the white hairs covering the perianth and ovary contrasting with the purplish anthers. The samarae are elliptic, <12 mm long, and densely hairy on both sides.[4][5]
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Bark
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Leaves
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Samarae
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.JPG)
Tree at Stanmer Park Arboretum, Brighton
Pests and diseases
U. villosa has a low susceptibility to Dutch elm disease and the elm leaf beetle Xanthogaleruca luteola , but a moderate susceptibility to Elm Yellows.[6]
Cultivation
A tree once grown at Kew Gardens, London, attained a height of 25 m and was considered very elegant, although it tended to shed shoots after flowering heavily; it was felled in the 1990s after succumbing to Dutch Elm Disease. Two trees planted as part of the UK Forestry Commission's elm trials at the Westonbirt Arboretum in the 1970s also died, although the cause of death has not been recorded. Plantings elsewhere in Europe are few and far between. A line of more than 20 trees survives at Wageningen in the Netherlands, collected by Heybroek in the Himalaya in 1960. Several trees also survive in the Gijsbrecht-Amstelpark area of Amsterdam and in the port . Ulmus villosa is not known to be in commerce.
Notable trees
The specimen planted in 1989 at the Sir Harold Hillier Gardens at an exposed location on clay has grown more in width than height to form an amorphous (albeit healthy) mound of vegetation; in 2005 it was 11.6 m high with a trunk 38 cm in diameter.
Accessions
- North America
- Europe
- Brighton & Hove City Council, UK, NCCPG elm collection . UK champion: Hodshrove Place, 15 m high, 51 cm d.b.h. in 1999.[7] Tree in Stanmer Park Arboretum, 2008 (Best example in UK).
- Grange Farm Arboretum, Sutton St. James, Spalding, Lincs. UK. Acc. no. 707.
- Royal Botanic Gardens Kew. Acc. no. 1935-69805.
- Royal Botanic Gardens Wakehurst Place. Acc. nos. 1935-69807, 1935-69809.
- Sir Harold Hillier Gardens. Acc. no. 1989.2869, wild-collected from Sundarnagar Forest, Himachal Pradesh, India.
References
- ↑ Melville, R. & Heybroek, H. M. (1971). The Elms of the Himalaya. Kew Bulletin Vol. 26 (1). Royal Botanic Garden, Kew, London.
- ↑ Wadoo, M. S. (2002). Brein - the Trees of Sufis, Saints and Reshies. Kashmir Observer
- ↑ Photograph of bark of mature Ulmus villosa, rogerstreesandshrubs.com villosa
- ↑ Bean, W. J. (1981). Trees and shrubs hardy in Great Britain, 7th edition. Murray, London.
- ↑ White, J & More, D. (2003). Trees of Britain & Northern Europe. Cassell's, London.
- ↑ Mittempergher, L. & Santini, A. (2004). The History of Elm Breeding. Invest. Agrar.: Sist Recur For. 2004 13 (1), 161-177.
- ↑ Johnson, Owen (ed.) (2003). Champion Trees of Britain & Ireland. Whittet Press, ISBN 978-1-873580-61-5