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Huntingdon Elm

Huntingdon Elm

Overview
Ulmus × hollandica Mill. 'Vegeta' Lindley , sometimes known as the Huntingdon Elm, is an old English cultivar
Cultivar
A cultivar is a cultivated plant that has been selected and given a unique name because of desired characteristics; it is usually distinct from similar plants and when propagated it retains those characteristics....

 raised at Brampton
Brampton, Cambridgeshire
Brampton – in Huntingdonshire , England – is a village near Godmanchester south west of Huntingdon. It has a population over 5000...

, near Huntingdon
Huntingdon
Huntingdon is a market town in the county of Cambridgeshire in East Anglia, England. The town was chartered by King John in 1205. It was formerly the county town of Huntingdonshire, and is currently the seat of the Huntingdonshire district council...

 by nurserymen Wood & Ingram in 1746, allegedly from seed collected from an Ulmus × hollandica hybrid at nearby Hinchingbrooke Park . The tree was confused by nineteenth century writers with the Chichester Elm
Chichester Elm
The Chichester Elm is probably the original Ulmus × hollandica Vegeta, but suffered confusion with the later Huntingdon Elm hybrid by nineteenth century writers...

, a very similar cultivar but raised much earlier in the 18th century at Rawreth
Rawreth
Rawreth is situated between Wickford and Rayleigh.The area is mainly agricultural, sparsely populated and with a small amount of industry.Historically, most of the farmhouses in Rawreth were moated manors, many of which survive today....

 in Essex
Essex
Essex is a county in the East of England region of the United Kingdom. The county town of Essex is Chelmsford.-History:In pre-Roman Britain the territories of Suffolk and Essex were home to the Trinovantes tribe, which had grown wealthy through intensive trade with the Roman Empire, contemporary...

.


In areas unaffected by Dutch elm disease
Dutch elm disease
Dutch elm disease is a fungal disease of elm trees which is spread by the elm bark beetle. Although believed to be originally native to Asia, the disease has been accidentally introduced into America and Europe, where it has devastated native populations of elms which had not had the opportunity...

, Huntingdon Elms commonly grow to over 35 m, bearing long, straight branches ascending from a short bole < 4 m in height http://www.cfsoc.btinternet.co.uk/t07.htm .
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Encyclopedia
Ulmus × hollandica Mill. 'Vegeta' Lindley , sometimes known as the Huntingdon Elm, is an old English cultivar
Cultivar
A cultivar is a cultivated plant that has been selected and given a unique name because of desired characteristics; it is usually distinct from similar plants and when propagated it retains those characteristics....

 raised at Brampton
Brampton, Cambridgeshire
Brampton – in Huntingdonshire , England – is a village near Godmanchester south west of Huntingdon. It has a population over 5000...

, near Huntingdon
Huntingdon
Huntingdon is a market town in the county of Cambridgeshire in East Anglia, England. The town was chartered by King John in 1205. It was formerly the county town of Huntingdonshire, and is currently the seat of the Huntingdonshire district council...

 by nurserymen Wood & Ingram in 1746, allegedly from seed collected from an Ulmus × hollandica hybrid at nearby Hinchingbrooke Park . The tree was confused by nineteenth century writers with the Chichester Elm
Chichester Elm
The Chichester Elm is probably the original Ulmus × hollandica Vegeta, but suffered confusion with the later Huntingdon Elm hybrid by nineteenth century writers...

, a very similar cultivar but raised much earlier in the 18th century at Rawreth
Rawreth
Rawreth is situated between Wickford and Rayleigh.The area is mainly agricultural, sparsely populated and with a small amount of industry.Historically, most of the farmhouses in Rawreth were moated manors, many of which survive today....

 in Essex
Essex
Essex is a county in the East of England region of the United Kingdom. The county town of Essex is Chelmsford.-History:In pre-Roman Britain the territories of Suffolk and Essex were home to the Trinovantes tribe, which had grown wealthy through intensive trade with the Roman Empire, contemporary...

.

Description



In areas unaffected by Dutch elm disease
Dutch elm disease
Dutch elm disease is a fungal disease of elm trees which is spread by the elm bark beetle. Although believed to be originally native to Asia, the disease has been accidentally introduced into America and Europe, where it has devastated native populations of elms which had not had the opportunity...

, Huntingdon Elms commonly grow to over 35 m, bearing long, straight branches ascending from a short bole < 4 m in height http://www.cfsoc.btinternet.co.uk/t07.htm . The glossy, oval leaves have petioles
Petiole (botany)
In botany, the petiole is the small stalk attaching the leaf blade to the stem. The petiole usually has the same internal structure as the stem. Outgrowths appearing on each side of the petiole are called stipules. Leaves lacking a petiole are called sessile, or clasping when they partly...

 < 10 mm long, and are very distinctly asymmetric at the base, < 12 cm long by < 7.5 cm broad contracting to an acuminate
Leaf shape
In botany, leaf shape is characterised with the following terms :* Acicular : Slender and pointed, needle-like* Acuminate : Tapering to a long point...

 apex. The leaves are borne on smooth branchlets that never feature corky wings. The tightly-clustered apetalous flowers are bright red, and appear in early spring. The samarae
Samara (fruit)
A samara is a type of fruit in which a flattened wing of fibrous, papery tissue develops from the ovary wall. A samara is a simple dry fruit and indehiscent . They are winged achenes...

 are obovate, < 25 mm long. The bole of mature trees has distinctive lattice-patterned bark-ridges. Elwes & Henry and Bean attested that the Huntingdon Elm suckers freely, but other writers have stated that it does not sucker at all. This contradiction may be owing to the fact that some trees were raised from grafts onto Wych Elm stock, which would not produce suckers, whilst others were raised from cuttings, which would. A comparatively high percentage of the seed is usually viable.

Cultivation


The tree was widely cultivated in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 owing to its very rapid growth (< 3 m per annum) and attractive wide-spreading form, but its habit of forking sometimes led to splitting of the trunk and premature death. A reputed Huntingdon Elm at Magdalen College
Magdalen College, Oxford
Magdalen College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. As of 2006 the college had an estimated financial endowment of £153 million....

, Oxford
Oxford
Oxford is a city, and the county town of Oxfordshire, in South East England. The city has a population of just under 165,000, with 151,000 living within the district boundary. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through Oxford and meet south of the city centre...

, was for a time the largest elm known in Britain before it was blown down in 1911. It measured 44 m tall, its trunk at breast height 2.6 m in diameter . However, its calculated age would place its planting long before the introduction of the Huntingdon Elm, and the tree in question was more likely a Chichester Elm
Chichester Elm
The Chichester Elm is probably the original Ulmus × hollandica Vegeta, but suffered confusion with the later Huntingdon Elm hybrid by nineteenth century writers...

.

'Vegeta' was planted in large numbers across Amsterdam
Amsterdam
Amsterdam is the capital and largest city of the Netherlands, located in the province of North Holland in the west of the country...

 after the Second World War as a replacement for Dutch Elms, and was itself eventually replaced by the Dutch cultivar 'Dodoens'
Ulmus 'Dodoens'
The Dutch hybrid cultivar Ulmus Dodoens was derived from a selfed seedling of a hybrid of the Exeter Elm Ulmus glabra 'Exoniensis', and the Himalayan Elm Ulmus wallichiana...

 http://www.amsterdamsebomen.nl. 'Vegeta' is also known to have been introduced to Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe is a region lying in the Eastern part of Europe. The term is highly context-dependent and there are "almost as many definitions of Eastern Europe as there are scholars of the region"...

 during the 19th century; it was marketed (as U. montana vegeta) in Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe . Poland is bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...

 by the Ulrich nursery , Warsaw
Warsaw
Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River roughly from both the Baltic Sea coast and the Carpathian Mountains. Its population as of 2009 was estimated at 1,709,781, and the Warsaw metropolitan area at approximately 2,785,000...

, and survives in several arboreta.

Notable Trees



There are many surviving trees around the Millfields, Hackney
Hackney Central
Hackney Central is the central district of the London Borough of Hackney in East London. It comprises the area roughly surrounding, and extending north from Mare Street. It is situated north east of Charing Cross...

, London
London
[]London is the capital of England and the United Kingdom. It has been a major settlement for two millennia, and the history of London goes back to its founding by the Romans, when it was named Londinium. London's core, the ancient City of London, the 'square mile', retains its medieval boundaries...

, UK, and very old examples survive on the university campuses at Cambridge
Cambridge
The city of Cambridge is a university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It lies in East Anglia about north of London. It is also at the heart of the high-technology centre known as Silicon Fen....

; others can be found (2009) in Clifton (Bristol)
Clifton, Bristol
Clifton is the name of both one of the thirty-five council wards in the City of Bristol in England, and of a large suburb of the city that lies mostly within that ward...

, and notably on Southsea
Southsea
Southsea is a seaside resort located in Portsmouth at the southern end of Portsea Island in the county of Hampshire in England. The built up areas of Portsmouth and Southsea have merged, and the centre of Southsea is within a mile of Portsmouth's city centre....

 Common in Portsmouth, isolated from disease by the sea and urban sprawl. In Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom, bordered by England to its east, and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It is also an elective region of the European Union...

 one very large tree (NT number 771, last recorded in 1995) stood in the grounds of Powis Castle
Powis Castle
Powis Castle is a medieval castle, fortress and grand country mansion located near the town of Welshpool, in Powys, Mid Wales.The residence of the Earl of Powis is known for its extensive, attractive formal gardens, terraces, parkland, deerpark and landscaped estate...

, near Welshpool
Welshpool
Welshpool is a town in Powys, Wales, from the Wales-England border. The town is low-lying on the River Severn; the Welsh language name Y Trallwng literally meaning 'the marshy or sinking land'....

; others have been reported from Abergavenny
Abergavenny
Abergavenny , meaning Mouth of the River Gavenny, is a market town in Monmouthshire, Wales.It is located 24 km west of Monmouth on the A40 and A465 roads, 10 km from the English border within the Welsh Marches...

 and Caernarfon
Caernarfon
Caernarfon is a royal town in Gwynedd, northwest Wales....

. Scotland has several of note at Fettes College, and Abercromby Place in Edinburgh
Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland. It is the second largest Scottish city, after Glasgow, and the seventh-most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas....

, and in Glasgow
Glasgow
Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...

. In Éire
Éire
is the Irish name for the island of Ireland and the sovereign state of the same name.- Etymology :The modern Irish Éire evolved from the Old Irish word Ériu, which was the name of a Gaelic goddess. Ériu is generally believed to have been the matron goddess of Ireland, a goddess of sovereignty, or...

, it is represented by a tree at the Kildangan Stud, Kildangan
Kildangan
Kildangan is a village in County Kildare in Ireland. The village of 570 people lies close to the flood plain of the River Barrow, near the County Laois border....

.

Introduced to Australasia
Australasia
Australasia is a region of Oceania: Australia, New Zealand, the island of New Guinea, and neighbouring islands in the Pacific Ocean. The term was coined by Charles de Brosses in Histoire des navigations aux terres australes . He derived it from the Latin for "south of Asia" and differentiated the...

, the tree was marketed by several Australian nurseries in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Notable street plantings include the Avenue of Honour
Avenue of honour
Avenue of Honour is the term given to a memorial avenue of trees, with each tree symbolising a person.The tradition, which originated in the Goldfields region of Victoria, Australia is an important part of Australian culture....

 in Ballarat, and Brisbane Avenue, Canberra
Canberra
Canberra is the capital city of Australia. With a population of over 345,000, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth largest Australian city overall. The city is located at the northern end of the Australian Capital Territory, south-west of Sydney, and north-east of Melbourne...

 . Some very large specimens survive in New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses , and numerous smaller islands, most notably Stewart Island/Rakiura and the Chatham Islands. The indigenous Māori named New Zealand Aotearoa, commonly translated as The Land of the Long White Cloud...

, notably in Auckland
Auckland
The Auckland metropolitan area , in the North Island of New Zealand, is the largest and most populous urban area in the country with a population approaching 1.4 million residents, percent of the country's population. Demographic trends indicate that it will continue to grow faster than the rest...

 where it is considered "the finest of all the elms" in that city. The nine trees forming a circle around the rotunda at Auckland Zoo
Auckland Zoo
Auckland Zoo is the main zoological garden of Auckland, New Zealand, situated next to Western Springs park not far from Auckland's central business district. It is run by the Auckland City Council with the Auckland Zoological Society as a supporting organisation.Auckland Zoo opened in 1922...

 are described as "magnificent... with stately crowns and spreading, drooping branches" .

Synonymy

  • Ulmus campestris wendworthiensis Hort.: Schelle
    Ernst Schelle
    Ernst Schelle was a German botanist who specialized in cacti. He was employed as Inspector of the Botanical Gardens in Tübingen. The grass species Helictotrichon schellianum Kitag.is named for him.-Publications:...

     in Beissner
    Ludwig Beissner
    Ludwig Beissner was a German horticulturalist and dendrologist who was a native of Ludwigslust.From 1887 to 1913 Beissner was inspector of the Botanical Gardens of Bonn...

     et al., Handb. Laubh.-Benenn. 84, 1903.
  • Ulmus campestris wentworthiensis: Späth nursery
    Späth nursery
    The Späth dynasty created one of the world's most notable plant nurseries of the 19th and early 20th centuries. The nursery had been founded in 1720 by Christoph Späth but removed to the erstwhile district of Baumschulenweg in south-east Berlin in 1863, when Franz Ludwig Späth , better known...

    , (Berlin
    Berlin
    Berlin is the capital city and one of sixteen states of Germany. With a population of 3.4 million within its city limits, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city and the eighth most populous urban area in the European Union...

    , Germany
    Germany
    Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium,...

    ), Cat. 143, p. 135, 1910-11.
  • Ulmus campestris 'Wentworthii': Dippel http://asaweb.huh.harvard.edu:8080/databases/botanists?id=102705, Handb. Laubh. 2: 24, 1892.
  • Ulmus huntingdonensis: Dieck (Zöschen
    Zöschen
    Zöschen is a municipality in the Saalekreis district, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany....

    , Germany
    Germany
    Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium,...

    ) Haupt-Cat. Nachtrag 1, 1887, p.28.
  • Ulmus huntingdonii Hort.: Rehder
    Alfred Rehder
    Alfred Rehder was a horticulturist and taxonomist who worked at the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University. Rehder was a newspaper writer from Germany who was originally hired as a laborer at the Arnold Arboretum. His talents for horticultural plant taxonomy were soon recognized, however...

    , in Bailey, Stand. Cycl. Hort. 6: 3411, 1917, in synonymy.
  • Ulmus wentworthii pendula: C. de Vos http://asaweb.huh.harvard.edu:8080/databases/botanists?id=172332, Handboek, Supplement, 16, 1890.

Hybrid cultivars

  • 'Commelin', U.260' (Ulmus × hollandica × Ulmus pumila) raised at Wageningen
    Wageningen
    Wageningen is a municipality and a historical town in the central Netherlands, in the province of Gelderland. It is famous for Wageningen University, which specializes in life sciences. The city has 36,224 inhabitants , of which many thousands are students...

     but never commercially released. A few specimens survive as part of the Brighton & Hove
    Brighton & Hove
    Brighton and Hove is a unitary authority area and city on the south coast of England. It is England's most populous seaside resort....

     CC NCCPG Elm Collection at Happy Valley Park, Woodingdean
    Woodingdean
    Woodingdean is an eastern suburb of the city of Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, separated from the main part of the city by downland and the Brighton Racecourse.-Source of name:...

    .

North America
  • Holden Arboretum
    Holden Arboretum
    The Holden Arboretum, in Kirtland, Ohio, USA, is one of the largest arboretums and botanical gardens in the United States, with over 3,500 acres , 600 acres of which are devoted to collections and gardens. Diverse natural areas and ecologically sensitive habitats make up the rest of the holdings...

    . Acc. no. 70-128
  • Morton Arboretum
    Morton Arboretum
    The Morton Arboretum, in Lisle, Illinois, covers 1,700 acres and is made up of gardens of various plant types and collections of trees from specific taxonomical and geographical areas. It includes native woodlands and a restored Illinois prairie. The Arboretum has over 4,100 different species of...

    . Acc. nos. 593-30, 71-70
  • New York Botanical Garden
    New York Botanical Garden
    The New York Botanical Garden is one of the premier botanical gardens in the United States, located in the Bronx in New York City. It spans some of Bronx Park and is home to some of the world's leading plant laboratories...

    . Acc. no. 529/89

Europe
  • Brighton & Hove
    Brighton & Hove
    Brighton and Hove is a unitary authority area and city on the south coast of England. It is England's most populous seaside resort....

     City Council, UK, NCCPG Elm Collection http://www.brighton-hove.gov.uk/index.cfm?request=c1108042.
  • Hortus Botanicus Nationalis, Salaspils
    Salaspils
    Salaspils Salaspils Salaspils ( is a town Latvia, the administrative centre of Salaspils municipality. The town is situated on the northern bank of the Daugava River 18 kilometers to the south-east of the city of Riga.-History:...

    , Latvia
    Latvia
    Latvia , officially the Republic of Latvia is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by Estonia , to the south by Lithuania , to the east by the Russian Federation , and to the southeast by Belarus . Across the Baltic Sea to the west lies Sweden...

    . One tree, planted 1998, acc. no. 18127.
  • Rainis
    Rainis
    Rainis was the pseudonym of Jānis Pliekšāns , a poet, playwright, translator, and politician. He is considered to be one of the greatest Latvian writers...

     Park, Liepaja
    Liepaja
    Liepāja , historical variant: Libau, is a city in western Latvia on the Baltic sea and the administrative center of Liepāja district. It is the largest city in the Kurzeme region of Latvia, the third largest city in Latvia after Riga and Daugavpils and an important ice-free port...

    , Latvia. Two trees, planted before 1994.
  • Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh
    Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh
    The Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh is a world-renowned scientific centre for the study of plants, their diversity and conservation, as well as a popular tourist attraction. Originally founded founded in 1670 as a physic garden to grow medicinal plants, today it occupies four sites across Scotland...

    . Acc. no. 19699364
  • Westonbirt Arboretum
    Westonbirt Arboretum
    Westonbirt Arboretum is an arboretum near Tetbury in Gloucestershire, England, perhaps the most important and widely known arboretum in the United Kingdom. It is managed by the Forestry Commission, which also manages Bedgebury Pinetum...

     http://www.forestry.gov.uk/forestry/infd-62qk8w,Tetbury
    Tetbury
    Tetbury is a town and civil parish within the Cotswold district of Gloucestershire, England. It lies on the site of an ancient hill fort, on which an Anglo-Saxon monastery was founded, probably by Ine of Wessex, in 681. The population of the parish was 5,250 in the 2001 census.In the Middle Ages,...

    , Glos.
    Gloucestershire
    Gloucestershire is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn, and the entire Forest of Dean....

    , UK. Two trees, one without planting date or acc. no., the other planted 2001, acc. no. 1999/118.

Australasia
  • Avenue of Honour
    Avenue of honour
    Avenue of Honour is the term given to a memorial avenue of trees, with each tree symbolising a person.The tradition, which originated in the Goldfields region of Victoria, Australia is an important part of Australian culture....

    , Ballarat, Australia. Details not known.
  • Box Hill
    Box Hill, Victoria
    Box Hill is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 14 km east from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area is the City of Whitehorse. At the 2006 Census, Box Hill had a population of 8616....

    , (central plantation), Victoria, Australia. Details not known.
  • Colac Botanic Gardens
    Colac Botanic Gardens
    The Colac Botanic Gardens is a botanical garden located at the end of Queens Street, on the shores of Lake Colac in Colac, Victoria, Australia. Established in 1868 and remodelled in 1910 by William Guilfoyle, the gardens feature a huge diversity of plants with many old and rare trees and a rose...

    , Australia. Details not known.
  • Eastwoodhill Arboretum
    Eastwoodhill Arboretum
    Eastwoodhill is the national arboretum of New Zealand. It covers and is located 35 km northwest of Gisborne, in the hill country of Ngatapa. It was founded in 1910 by William Douglas Cook...

     http://www.eastwoodhill.org.nz/gardens--collection/collection.aspx?Type=&G=Ulmus, Gisborne
    Gisborne, New Zealand
    Gisborne is the name of the largest settlement within the Gisborne Region of northeastern New Zealand.Gisborne is named for an early Colonial Secretary William Gisborne. The council is located in the town of Gisborne .-Geography:The city of Gisborne is located at the north end of Poverty Bay...

    , New Zealand
    New Zealand
    New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses , and numerous smaller islands, most notably Stewart Island/Rakiura and the Chatham Islands. The indigenous Māori named New Zealand Aotearoa, commonly translated as The Land of the Long White Cloud...

    . 3 trees, details not known.
  • Fawkner Park, South Yarra, Australia. Details not known.
  • Kyneton Botanic Gardens, Kyneton, Australia. Details not known.
  • Royal Botanic Gardens, Melbourne
    Royal Botanic Gardens, Melbourne
    The Royal Botanic Gardens, Melbourne are internationally renowned botanical gardens located near the centre of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, on the south bank of the Yarra River. They are 35.4 hectares of landscaped gardens consisting of a mix of native and non-native vegetation including over...

     http://www.rbg.vic.gov.au, Australia
  • Waite Arboretum http://www.waite.adelaide.edu.au/arboretum/, University of Adelaide
    University of Adelaide
    The University of Adelaide is a public university located in Adelaide, South Australia. Established in 1874, it is the third oldest university in Australia...

    , Adelaide
    Adelaide
    Adelaide is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of South Australia, and is the fifth-largest city in Australia, with a population of more than 1.1 million. It is a coastal city situated on the eastern shores of Gulf St. Vincent, on the Adelaide Plains, north of the Fleurieu...

    , Australia. Acc. no. 336

Australasia
  • Established Tree Transplanters Pty. Ltd., Wandin, Victoria, Australia
    Australia
    Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the continental mainland , the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans...

    . http://establishedtrees.com.au