Ulmus 'Myrtifolia'

The elm cultivar Ulmus 'Myrtifolia' occasionally referred to as the Myrtle Leaved Elm was identified by Nicholson in Kew Hand-List Trees & Shrubs 2: 135, 1896 but without description. It was later listed as a cultivar by Rehder in 1939,^[1] and by Krüssmann in Handbuch der Laubgehölze 2: 540, 1962. The specimen under this name in the Herb. Nicholson at Kew was considered by Melville to be a probable U. minor × Ulmus minor 'Plotii' hybrid.^[2]

Description

'Myrtifolia' was described as having leaves ovate or rhombic-ovate to oblong-ovate, 2–5 cm long with nearly simple teeth, loosely pilose on both sides.

Cultivation

A 'Mytifolia' was present in North Road, Bath in 1902.^[3] The tree is not known to remain in cultivation. A small, slow-growing, dense-crowned old elm (15 m, girth 2 m), possibly 'Myrtifolia', with very small narrow leaves, stands near 90 Lower Granton Rd, Edinburgh (2016), in a garden that was once part of the elm-planted grounds of Wardie House (demolished 1955).^[4] Its leaves, which flush and fall late,^[5] are lance-shaped or oval (2–4.5 cm by 1.3–2 cm; petioles 0.5–1 cm). The tree, which has smooth branchlets, has been grafted on to a suberose U. minor stock.

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  Possible 'Myrtifolia', Edinburgh, September

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  The same, October

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  Leaves and samarae of possible 'Myrtifolia', Edinburgh

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  Long shoot of same

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  Foliage

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  Bark

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  Graft-mark

Synonymy

• Ulmus campestris (: minor) var. myrtifolia Hort.: Nicholson, in Kew Hand-List Trees & Shrubs 2: 135, 1896.
• Ulmus buxifolia Hort.: Nicholson, Kew Hand-List Trees & Shrubs 2: 135, 1896, in synonymy.

References

External links

• Ulmus Myrtifolia, systematics.mortonarb.org