Ulmus minor 'Argenteo-Variegata'

The Field Elm cultivar Ulmus minor 'Argenteo-Variegata' or simply 'Variegata', known in Australasia and North America as Silver Elm [1][2] or Tartan Elm,[3] is said to have been cultivated in France from 1772. Green noted that variegated forms of Field Elm "arise frequently, and several clones may have been known under this name".[4] Dumont de Courset (1802) listed an U. campestris var. glabra variegata,[5] Loudon (1838) an U. nitens var. variegata, and Wesmael (1863) an U. campestris var. nuda microphylla variegata.[6][7]

Ulmus minor 'Argenteo-Variegata'
'Argenteo-Variegata', Benalla Botanic Garden, Australia
SpeciesUlmus minor
Cultivar'Argenteo-Variegata'
OriginEurope

'Variegata' is not to be confused with the variegated English Elm cultivar, U. minor 'Atinia Variegata', which has the broader, almost orbicular leaves of the type.

Description

The tree's foliage is randomly blotched and speckled with creamy white, the colour of the leaves on the same tree ranging from almost completely cream to totally green.[8][9] In 1915 the horticulturalist E. A. Bowles described "a tall Silver Elm" at Myddleton House, his lifelong home at Bulls Cross in Enfield, Middlesex:

"In some seasons it is an absolutely silver pillar from top to toe, with more than half of every leaf pure milky white. Another year it will hardly show the variegation, and in yet another it may be spangled with minute silver specks all over the leaves, but with no large pure white markings. It turns to fine gold in some Novembers. I believe that it is in the seasons that it is greenest that it turns the finest autumn yellow. Mr. Elwes tells me that it is a very fine specimen of a variegated elm, and should have been figured for his great book[note 1] if he had seen it in time, and also that it is unusual in being on its own roots, whereas most of them are grafted. This one suckers up all over the lawn and in the adjacent flower beds, and reproduces all its vagaries of variegation in its offspring."[10]

Bowles' photograph and the name "Silver Elm" suggest that the Myddleton House tree was U. minor 'Variegata', rather than Variegated English Elm.

  • U. minor 'Variegata' foliage

Etymology

As the blotching and margination of the foliage may appear more silver than cream, the cultivar is sometimes listed as U. minor 'Argenteo-Variegata'.[11]

Pests and diseases

The cultivar is as susceptible to Dutch elm disease as the species.

Cultivation
U. minor 'Variegata' grafted on to Ulmus glabra rootstock (photo Mihailo Grbić)

Henry cited Loudon's report that 'Variegata' was cultivated in Chiswick in the early 19th century.[12] The Späth nursery of Berlin supplied the Dominion Arboretum, Ottawa, Canada, with an U. campestris variegata argentea (1893) and an U. campestris fol. argenteis variegatis (1899), which may have been Silver Elm or Tartan Elm, as well as an U. campestris fol. argenteis marginatis (1897), possibly variegated English Elm.[13] An U. fol. argent. var. minor, a "small, silver, variegated variety", appeared in the 1902 catalogue of the Bobbink and Atkins nursery, Rutherford, New Jersey.[14] An Ulmus medio argentea variegata, "a pretty silver-variegated variety", probably Silver Elm, appeared in early 20th-century nursery catalogues in Australia.[15] Silver Elm remains in commercial cultivation in Europe, and is commonly cultivated in Australasia and North America, where a number of mature specimens survive (see under Accessions).

Notable trees

In the Netherlands, one tree, known as the Rococo Iep (:Elm) grows at Houten, next to the old church.. A group off 5 grows along a canal in Alkmaar. In Australia, several trees planted in 1897 stand in Geelong Botanic Gardens, Victoria.[16] 'Atinia Variegata' is also found among the elms lining the Avenue of Honour at Ballarat, while approximately 50 trees grow at The Nook, Sunbury. There are two mature trees in the Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens, Hobart.[17] In the United States, a specimen in Portland, Oregon, has been designated a 'Heritage Tree'.[18]

Synonymy

Accessions

North America

Europe
  • Dubrava Arboretum, Lithuania. As U. carpinifolia 'Variegata'. No details available.
  • Grange Farm Arboretum , Sutton St. James, Spalding, Lincs., UK. Acc. no. 1083.
  • Hortus Botanicus Nationalis, Salaspils, Latvia. Acc. no. 18143 (acknowledged as possibly U. minor 'Albo-dentata').

Australasia

Nurseries

North America

None known.

Europe

(Widely available)

Australasia
  • ETT, Wandin East, Victoria, Australia
  • Fleming's Nursery , Monbulk, Victoria, Australia. (as 'Silver Elm').
  • Metro Trees, Fairfield, Victoria, Australia
  • Mount William, Lancefield, Victoria, Australia

Notes
  1. Elwes, H. J. & Henry, A. (1913). The Trees of Great Britain & Ireland. Vol. VII. p.1895
gollark: Hmm, could actually be time-varying.
gollark: π÷√π
gollark: I've seen fewer chickens than golds, not that that means much.
gollark: This is probably more due to my lack of botting, low-bandwidth internet, and slow reflexes than anything else.
gollark: I've not managed to do anything other than see silvers/golds during daytime GMT.

References
  1. treelogic.com.au/facts/ulmus-minor-variegata-silver-elm/
  2. flemings.com.au/ornamental_details.asp?CULT_ID=MINOR
  3. plantthis.co.nz/plant-information.asp?gardener=26019&tabview=photos&plantSpot=
  4. Green, Peter Shaw (1964). "Registration of cultivar names in Ulmus". Arnoldia. Arnold Arboretum, Harvard University. 24 (6–8): 41–80. Retrieved 16 February 2017.
  5. Dumont de Courset, George Louis Marie (1802). Le botaniste cultivateur. 3. p. 700.
  6. Bulletin de la Fédération des sociétés d'horticulture de Belgique 1862: 390, 1863
  8. Hilliers' Manual of Trees & Shrubs. (1977). David & Charles, Newton Abbot, UK.
  9. Photographs of Ulmus minor 'Variegata', www.ogrodyprzydomowe.eu
  10. Bowles, E. A. (1915). My Garden in Autumn and Winter. London. p. 165. Retrieved 20 December 2017.
  11. Photograph of foliage of U. minor 'Argenteovariegata', www.flower.onego.ru (photo 6)
  12. Elwes, H. J. & Henry, A. (1913). The Trees of Great Britain & Ireland. Vol. VII. p.1895
  13. 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.
  14. Bobbink and Atkins, Rutherford. N.J. 1902. p. 51.
  15. Nobelius nursery, Melbourne, 1916 catalogue
  16. Spencer, Roger, ed., Horticultural Flora of South-Eastern Australia, Vol. 2 (Sydney, 1995), p.114
  17. 'Variegated elms on Playground Lawn' (Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens, Hobart) by Natalie Tapson, flickr.com
  18. 'Heritage' Silver Elm in Portland, Oregon, portlandoregon.gov/parks/article/479576?
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