Ulmus 'Fastigiata Glabra'

Ulmus 'Fastigiata Glabra'
Späth's 'Fastigiata Glabra' in Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (1989)
Genus	Ulmus
Cultivar	'Fastigiata Glabra'
Origin	Späth nursery, Berlin, Germany

The elm cultivar Ulmus 'Fastigiata Glabra' was distributed by the Späth nursery, Berlin, in the 1890s and early 1900s as U. montana fastigiata glabra.^[1][2][3] Späth used U. montana both for cultivars of wych elm and for those of some U. × hollandica hybrids like 'Dampieri'.^[4] A specimen of U. montana fastigiata glabra in the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh was determined by Melville in 1958 as a hybrid of the U. × hollandica group.^[5]

Description

Späth's name implies that when young, at least, the tree had an upright form and smooth leaves.

• 
  Bark of C2715, Edinburgh (see 'Cultivation')

Pests and diseases

Not known. Some examples of the U. × hollandica group possess a moderate resistance to Dutch elm disease.^[6]

Cultivation

One tree supplied by Späth was planted in 1898 as U. montana fastigiata glabra at the Dominion Arboretum, Ottawa, Canada.^[7] Three were supplied to the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh in 1902. One, in the Garden proper (tree C2715), was relabelled by Melville in 1958 U. glabra Huds. × U. carpinifolia [:U. minor ] × U. plotii [:U. minor 'Plotii' ];^[5][8] it survived till the 1990s. Others may survive in Edinburgh, as it was the practice of the Garden to distribute trees about the city (viz. the Wentworth Elm);^[9] the current list of Living Accessions held in the Garden per se does not list the plant.^[10]

Putative specimen

An old glabrous-leaved hybrid elm in a more exposed position on The Mound, Edinburgh (2020), appears to match the 1958 RBGE herbarium leaf-specimen of U. montana fastigiata glabra (see 'External links' below) and may be a more spreading example of the cultivar.

• 
  Pages from the RBGE Accessions Book (1902) listing U. montana fastigiata glabra
• 
  The Mound elm, Edinburgh
• 
  Foliage of same
• 
  Branching
• 
  Bole

Accessions

North America

• Dominion Arboretum, Ottawa, Canada. Accession no. 2602

Europe

None known.

See also

U. montana fastigiata, Exeter elm Ulmus glabra, the wych elm, or Scots elm

References

1. Späth, L., Catalogue 79 (1890-91; Berlin), p.114
2. Späth, L., Catalogue 89 (1892-93; Berlin), p.116
3. Späth, L., Catalogue 104 (1899–1900; Berlin), p.134
4. RBGE Späth list 1902
5. "Herbarium specimen - L.1586827". Botany catalogues. Naturalis Biodiversity Center. Sheet described as U. montana fastigiata glabra, RBGE specimen 1 from Späth nursery, 1902; "Herbarium specimen - E00824883". Herbarium Catalogue. Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh. Sheet described as U. montana fastigiata glabra, RBGE specimen 2 from Späth nursery, 1902
6. Burdekin, D.A.; Rushforth, K.D. (November 1996). "Elms resistant to Dutch elm disease" (PDF). Arboriculture Research Note. 2/96. Revised by J.F. Webber. Alice Holt Lodge, Farnham: Arboricultural Advisory & Information Service: 1–9. ISSN 1362-5128. Retrieved 26 October 2017.
7. Saunders, William; Macoun, William Tyrrell (1899). Catalogue of the trees and shrubs in the arboretum and botanic gardens at the central experimental farm (2 ed.). pp. 74–75.
8. RBGE Cultivated Herbarium Accessions Book: October 1958 notes by Ronald Melville on specimen C2715, area G3
9. Accessions book. Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh. 1902. pp. 45, 47.
10. "List of Living Accessions: Ulmus". Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh. Retrieved 21 September 2016.