| Ulmus | |
|---|---|
'Nana', Sir Harold Hillier Gardens, UK |
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| Details | |
| Cultivar | 'Nana' |
| Origin | Europe |
The elm cultivar 'Nana' is a very slow growing shrub, believed for many years to be Ulmus glabra and known widely as the 'Dwarf Wych Elm'. However, the ancestry of 'Nana' has been disputed in more recent years, Melville considering the specimen once grown at Kew to have been a cultivar of Ulmus × hollandica [1].
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The tree rarely exceeds 5 m in height, but is often broader [2][3]. Green [4] describes it as a very distinct variety not growing above 2 feet (60 cm) in 10 to 12 years. The dark green leaves are smaller than the type, < 11 cm long by 8 cm broad. A specimen at Kew was described by Henry as 'a slow-growing hemispherical bush that has not increased appreciably in size for many years' [5].
The low height of the tree should ensure that it avoids colonization by the Scolytus bark beetles and thus remain free of Dutch elm disease.
The tree is still occasionally found in arboreta and gardens in the UK, and has been introduced to North America and continental Europe; it is not known in Australasia.
None known