Ulmus × hollandica 'Serpentina'

Ulmus × hollandica
Hybrid parentage	U. glabra × U. minor
Cultivar	'Serpentina'

The hybrid elm cultivar Ulmus × hollandica 'Serpentina' is of unknown provenance.

Description

A small tree bearing curved, twisted pendulous branches forming a dense conical or round crown.^[1]

Pests and diseases

A specimen at the Ryston Hall , Norfolk, arboretum ^[2] obtained from the Späth nursery before 1914, was killed by the earlier strain of Dutch elm disease prevalent in the 1930s.

Cultivation

The tree was known to have been marketed by the Späth nursery in Berlin (as U. montana 'Serpentina'), and also in Poland in the 19th century by the Ulrich nursery,^[3] Warsaw, and may still survive in Eastern Europe. The tree is not known to have been introduced to North America or Australasia.

Accessions

Europe

• Brighton & Hove City Council, UK, NCCPG elm collection , 1 tree at Jevington Church, but listed as U. glabra 'Serpentinei'.
• Grange Farm Arboretum, Sutton St James, Spalding, Lincolnshire, UK. Acc. no. 1100.
• Hortus Botanicus Nationalis, Salaspils, Latvia. Acc. no. 18126 (as U. glabra 'Serpentina').

References

1. Hilliers' Manual of Trees & Shrubs. (1977). David & Charles, Newton Abbot, UK.
2. Ryston Hall Arboretum catalogue circa 1920
3. Ulrich, C. (1894), Katalog Drzew i Krezewow, C. Ulrich, Rok 1893-94, Warszawa