Ulmus 'Rugosa'

The elm cultivar Ulmus 'Rugosa' [:'wrinkled', the leaves], was first listed in Audibert's Tonelle (1817), as "U. campestris Linn. 'Rugosa' = orme d'Avignon [Avignon elm] (new species)", but without description.^[1] A description followed in the Revue horticole, 1829.^[2] Green (1964)^[3] identified this cultivar with one listed by Hartwig and Rümpler in Illustrirtes Gehölzbuch (1875) as Ulmus montana var. rugosa Hort..^[4][5] A cultivar of the same name appeared in Loddiges' catalogue of 1836 and was identified by Loudon in Arboretum et Fruticetum Britannicum (1838) as Ulmus montana var. rugosa Masters,^[6] Masters naming the tree maple-bark elm.^[7] Ulmus montana was used at the time both for wych cultivars and for some cultivars of the Ulmus × hollandica group.^[8]

Not to be confused with Späth's U. campestris rugosa, a suberose field elm.

Description

Revue Horticole (1829) described "l'orme d'Avignon" as a tall tree with downy buds producing large wrinkled leaves, elliptical in shape and tapering at both ends, with deeply double-toothed margins.^[2] Loudon described his Ulmus montana var. rugosa as having "dark, reddish-brown bark, cracking into short, regular pieces, very like Acer campestre; a tree of spreading growth and moderate size". Hanham's Manual for Royal Victoria Park, Bath (1857) described the U. montana rugosa in that collection as "a spreading and moderate-sized tree, with rather irregular and contorted branches", its wrinkled leaves being "much smaller and rougher than the species and a deeper green".^[9] Koch (1872) described Loddiges' Ulmus montana rugosa, "now cultivated under this name in the gardens and nurseries", as an elm "with elongated, thickish, deep-toothed leaves and with soft-haired young twigs". Though he had not seen its samarae, he was confident that it was "a very different elm" from the field elm 'Rugosa' cultivar.^[10][11] Noting similarities between Ulmus montana rugosa and Ulmus crispa Willdenow, he conjectured that Ulmus montana rugosa, which has "similar but less frizzy leaves", may have arisen from Ulmus crispa.^[11] The 'Rugosa' of Hartwig and Rümpler was described as having somewhat folded leaves, and being pyramidal, thick and bushy.^[3]

Pests and diseases

Not known.

Cultivation

Loudon considered a tree labelled U. montana rugosa in the London Horticultural Society's Garden, with upright form and smaller, rougher leaves of a deeper green than those of wych elm, "probably not the U. montana rugosa of Mr. Masters". A specimen of U. montana rugosa, "the rugose Scotch elm", was among elms described at Royal Victoria Park, Bath, in the 1850s.^[9] The Hesse Nursery of Weener, Germany, sold an Ulmus montana rugosa in the 1930s.^[12]

An Ulmus montana var. rugosa pendula was distributed by the Mount Hope Nursery (also known as Ellwanger and Barry) of Rochester, New York, from the 1880s.^[13] As Ulmus montana was used both for wych cultivars and for those of U. × hollandica, the cultivar named U. × hollandica 'Rugosa Pendula' (though not notably pendulous) growing at the Morton Arboretum (Acc. no. 652-62), received from Arnold Arboretum as Ulmus hollandica 'Rugosa Pendula',^[14][15] is likely to be the Ellwanger and Barry clone. It has leaves to 15 cm (see Gallery).^[16][17]

• 
  Ulmus × hollandica 'Rugosa Pendula', Morton Arboretum, US.^[18]
• 
  Leaves of same, Morton Arboretum, US.

Accessions

North America

Morton Arboretum, US.

References