The elm cultivar Ulmus 'Rubra' was reputedly cloned from a tree found by Vilmorin in a wood near Verrières-le-Buisson in the 1830s.[1][2] It was listed in the 1869 Catalogue of Simon-Louis, Metz, France, as Ulmus campestris rubra,[3] and by Planchon in de Candolle's Prodromus Systematis Naturalis Regni Vegetabilis (1873) as Ulmus libero-rubra: 'Orme à liber rouge' [:elm with red inner bark].[4] Elwes and Henry (1913) and Bean (1936) listed it as Ulmus montana [:U. glabra Huds.] var. libro-rubro,[2][5] the former stating that the tree appeared "identical" to Simon-Louis's Ulmus campestris rubra. A specimen in the Zuiderpark, The Hague, was identified in 1940 as a wych elm cultivar, U. glabra Huds. libero rubro.[6]
| Ulmus 'Rubra' | |
|---|---|
| Genus | Ulmus |
| Cultivar | 'Rubra' |
| Origin | France |
Ulmus campestris rubra Hort. was distributed by the Louis van Houtte nursery of Ghent from the late 19th century,[7] and by the Späth nursery of Berlin in the early 20th century.[8] Krüssmann, in Handbuch der Laubgehölze 2: 535, 1962 confirmed it as a cultivar, Ulmus glabra Huds. 'Rubra'.[9]
Description
Henry regarded the tree as a form of wych elm, distinguished solely by the deep red or purplish-red colouring of the inner bark of young branchlets.[2][5][10]
Cultivation
No specimens are known to survive. The tree was propagated by grafting.[2] A specimen obtained from van Houtte in 1871 stood in Kew Gardens in the early 20th century,[2] and one obtained from Späth before 1914, and planted in that year, stood in the Ryston Hall arboretum, Norfolk.[11][12]
Synonymy
- Ulmus libero-rubra: Planchon, in de Candolle Prodr, 17: 160 1873.
- Ulmus libro-rubro: Elwes and Henry (1913), W. J. Bean (1936),[2][5]
- Ulmus campestris rubra: Simon-Louis (1869)[13]