Ulmus minor 'Argenteo-Variegata'


The Field Elm cultivar Ulmus minor 'Argenteo-Variegata' or simply 'Variegata', known in Australasia and North America as Silver Elm or Tartan Elm, 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". Dumont de Courset listed an U. campestris var. glabra variegata, Loudon an U. nitens var. variegata, and Wesmael an U. campestris var. nuda microphylla variegata.
'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. In 1915 the horticulturalist E. A. Bowles described "a tall Silver Elm" at Myddleton House, his lifelong home at Bulls Cross in Enfield, Middlesex:
Bowles' photograph and the name "Silver Elm" suggest that the Myddleton House tree was U. minor 'Variegata', rather than Variegated English Elm.

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'.

Pests and diseases

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

Cultivation

cited Loudon's report that 'Variegata' was cultivated in Chiswick in the early 19th century. The Späth nursery of Berlin supplied the Dominion Arboretum, Ottawa, Canada, with an U. campestris variegata argentea and an U. campestris fol. argenteis variegatis, which may have been Silver Elm or Tartan Elm, as well as an U. campestris fol. argenteis marginatis, possibly variegated English Elm. 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. An Ulmus medio argentea variegata, "a pretty silver-variegated variety", probably Silver Elm, appeared in early 20th-century nursery catalogues in Australia. Silver Elm remains in commercial cultivation in Europe, and is commonly cultivated in Australasia and North America, where a number of mature specimens survive.

Notable trees

In the Netherlands, one tree, known as the Rococo Iep 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. '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. In the United States, a specimen in Portland, Oregon, has been designated a 'Heritage Tree'.

Synonymy

North America

North America

None known.

Europe

Australasia