| Ulmus 'Louis van Houtte' | |
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'Louis van Houtte', Brighton. Photo: Ronnie Nijboer, Bonte Hoek kwekerijen |
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| Details | |
| Cultivar | 'Louis van Houtte' |
| Origin | Belgium |
Ulmus 'Louis van Houtte' (Syn. Ulmus 'Vanhouttei') is believed to have been first cultivated in Ghent, Belgium circa 1863.[1][2] It was once thought a cultivar of English Elm Ulmus procera, though this derivation has long been questioned; W. J. Bean called it "an elm of uncertain status".[3] It was first mentioned by Deegen in Ill. Monatsch. Gartenb. 5: 103, 1886. Its dissimilarity from the type and its Belgian provenance make the Ulmus procera attribution unlikely.
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When young, the tree has leaves entirely yellow, a colour retained throughout summer. However, as the tree ages, the colouring begins a gradual reversion to green.[4] The vertically-fissured bark of mature trees is unlike that of English elm, with its squarish 'plated' fissuring. 'Louis van Houtte' has smaller leaves than the not dissimilar Ulmus glabra Lutescens (Golden Wych Elm).
'Louis van Houtte' is vulnerable to Dutch elm disease. A specimen at the Ryston Hall arboretum [4], Norfolk, obtained from the Späth nursery in Berlin before 1914,[5] was killed by the earlier strain of Dutch elm disease prevalent in the 1930s, and two specimens planted at Kew Gardens succumbed very rapidly to the same fate in 1931. A fine mature specimen, which retained its yellow colouration in the crown, survived in Edinburgh's Royal Circus Gardens, before succumbing to the new strain in 1995.
Several large trees survive in Sweden, including a fine old specimen in Kristianstad.[6] Two trees are known in the British Isles, and it remains in commerce at a nursery in the USA; several old trees survive in Australasia.
The cultivar is named for the Belgian horticulturist and plant collector Louis Benoit van Houtte, 1810 - 1876.
None known.