San Zanobi (elm cultivar)

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Ulmus San Zanobi
Hybrid parentage
Plantyn x U. pumila clone N 15
Cultivar
San Zanobi
Origin
IPP, Florence, Italy

San Zanobi is an elm cultivar raised by the Istituto per la Protezione delle Piante (IPP), Florence. Derived from a crossing of the Dutch hybrid Plantyn and the Siberian Elm Ulmus pumila clone N15, it was released for sale in 2003. It is a fastigiate tree, with a straight, long trunk and glabrous, bright green leaves up to 150 mm long, with a high resistance to Dutch Elm Disease. In Italy, San Zanobi begins flowering in its fifth year.

The tree is only commercially available outside Italy by mail order from a nursery near Rome. It was introduced to the UK by Butterfly Conservation in 2003, and is being evaluated at several sites in Hampshire. It has so far proven very fast growing on well-drained soil, increasing in height by over one metre per annum, but is intolerant of heavy ground waterlogged in winter. A specimen is also growing at the Sir Harold Hillier Gardens. San Zanobi is not known (2006) to have been introduced to North America or Australasia.

The hybrid is named after Saint Zenobius (San Zanobi in Italian), a saint noted for many miracles. After his death in AD 417, his body, whilst being carried from the cathedral for burial, is supposed to have glanced a dead elm, restoring the tree to life.

[edit] References

• Brookes, A. H. (2006). An evaluation of disease-resistant hybrid and exotic elms as larval host plants for the White-letter Hairstreak butterfly Satyrium w-album, Part 1. Butterfly Conservation, Lulworth, UK.
• Santini, A., Fagnani, A., Ferrini, F., & Mittempergher, L., (2002). San Zanobi and Plinio elm trees. HortScience 37(7): 1139-1141. 2002. American Society for Horticultural Science, Alexandria, VA 22314, USA.