Ulmus 'Pitteurs'

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Ulmus
Ulmus 'Pitteurs', drawing from Morren , also picturing H. B. T de Pitteurs?
Ulmus 'Pitteurs', drawing from Morren [1], also picturing H. B. T de Pitteurs?
Cultivar
'Pitteurs'
Origin
Belgium

'Pitteurs' is probably one of a number of cultivars arising from the crossing of the Wych Elm Ulmus glabra with a variety of Field Elm Ulmus minor. First identified by Morren as l'orme Pitteurs [1]; described as a tall tree, chiefly distinguished by its huge, rounded, convex leaves, < 20 cm long by < 19 cm broad, a little attenuate at the apex and with prominent venation.

Reputedly one of two varieties obtained in 1845 by Henri Bonaventure Trudon de Pitteurs[2] of St-Trond (Flemish: Sint-Truiden), near Liege, Belgium, the tree was planted on his estate and along roadsides in the region. Augustine Henry thought the tree, which produced shoots growing almost one metre a year, identical with those he saw at Looymans' nursery at Oudenbosch, which he considered identical to a variety of Wych Elm occasionally sold as var. macrophylla [3].

In 1998 an unsuccessful search of the de Pitteurs-Hiegaerts Estate (now in the public domain and known as the Speelhof park) was mounted in an attempt to rediscover the elm [4]. It is assumed the cultivar fell victim to Dutch elm disease, as did thousands of other elms in the same district. However, 'Pitteurs' was known to have been marketed (as U. montana 'Pitteursi') in Poland in the 19th century by the Ulrich nursery [5], Warsaw, and so may still survive in Eastern Europe. Several trees thought to survive near Brighton [6] in England are now considered large-leafed examples of Ulmus laevis. Another specimen at the Extra Mural Cemetery in Brighton was blown down in the Great Storm of 1987, and although suckers have since arisen from the roots, these may well not be of the cultivar as the tree was almost certainly of graft origin.

'Pitteurs' is not known to have been introduced to North America or Australasia.

[edit] Hybrid cultivars

'Pitteurs' was crossed with Ulmus × hollandica in the Dutch elm breeding programme before WW2, but none of the progeny were of particular note [7].

[edit] Synonymy

  • l'Orme gras
  • ?l'Orme St. Trond
  • Ulmus campestris latifolia, foliis rotundata: Morren, Jour. Agric. Prat. Belg. 4: 509, 511, 1851.
  • Ulmus campestris var pitteursii: Wesmael in Bull. Fed. Soc. Hort. Belg. 1862: 382, 1863.
  • Ulmus scabra macrophylla Hort.: Dieck, (Zöschen, Germany), Haupt-Cat, 1885 p. 82.

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b Morren, C. (1848).Journal d'Agriculture Pratique - d'economie forestiere, d'economie rurale et d'education des animaux domestiques du Royaume de Belgique p. 114
  2. ^ Schelev, A. (1854) Annuaire statistique et historique belge, page 325, Brussel - Leipzig
  3. ^ Elwes, H. J. & Henry, A. (1913). The Trees of Great Britain & Ireland. Vol. VII. pp 1848-1929. Private publication, Edinburgh. [1]
  4. ^ Driesen, W. (2008), Stedelijke bibliotheek de Leidrad, Sint-Truiden
  5. ^ Ulrich, C. (1894), Katalog Drzew i Krezewow, C. Ulrich, Rok 1893-94, Warszawa
  6. ^ Johnson, Owen (ed.) (2003). Champion Trees of Britain & Ireland. Whittet Press, ISBN 9781873580615.
  7. ^ Went, J. C. (1954). The Dutch elm disease - Summary of 15 years' hybridisation and selection work (1937-1952). European Journal of Plant Pathology, Vol 60, 2, March 1954.
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