Ulmus villosa
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| Ulmus villosa | ||||||||||||||
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 Ulmus villosa leaves, July
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| Ulmus villosa Brandis ex Gamble |
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Ulmus villosa Brandis ex Gamble, the Cherry-bark 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 from 1200 m to 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, and are described by M. S. Wadoo in Brein - the Trees of Sufis, Saints and Reshies [1], although the author misapplies the specific name wallichiana, which is the Himalayan Elm.
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. The oblong-elliptic-acute leaves are < 11 cm long by 5 cm broad. The wind-pollinated petal-less 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 and up to 12 mm long, densely hairy on both sides [2] [3].
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. 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 anomalous (albeit healthy) mound of vegetation; in 2005 it was 11.6 m high, its trunk 38 cm d.b.h..
Plantings elsewhere in Europe are few and far between. Several trees survive in the Gijsbrecht-Amstelpark area of Amsterdam and in the port [2].
There are no known cultivars of this taxon, nor is it known to be available from any nurseries.
[edit] Arboreta etc. accessions
- North America
- Bartlett Tree Experts [3], acc. no. 8384.
- Europe
- Brighton & Hove City Council, UK, NCCPG elm collection [4]. UK champion: Hodshrove Place, 15 m high, 51 cm d.b.h. in 1999 [4].
- Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, acc. no. 1935-69805 (planted 1989).
- Royal Botanic Gardens Wakehurst Place, acc. nos. 1935-69807, 1935-69809.
- Sir Harold Hillier Gardens, acc. no. 1989.2869, from Sundarnagar Forest, Himachal Pradesh, India.
[edit] References
- ^ Melville, R. & Heybroek, H. M. (1971). The Elms of the Himalaya. Kew Bulletin Vol. 26 (1). Royal Botanic Garden, Kew, London.
- ^ 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.
- ^ Johnson, Owen (ed.) (2003). Champion Trees of Britain & Ireland. Whittet Press, ISBN 9781873580615
