The cultivar 'Webbiana', or Webb's Smooth-leafed Elm, is said to be a form of Cornish Elm

Cornish Elm

Ulmus minor Mill. subsp. angustifolia Stace , often known as the Cornish Elm, is a species of deciduous tree...

, distinguished by its unusual leaves that fold longitudinally; raised at Lee's Nursery, Hammersmith

Hammersmith

Hammersmith is an urban centre in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in west London, England, in the United Kingdom, approximately five miles west of Charing Cross on the north bank of the River Thames...

, London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

, circa 1868.

Description

The tree is of pyramidal habit, with ascending branches and sparse foliage. Judged almost identical to Ulmus 'Concavaefolia' described by Loudon

John Claudius Loudon

John Claudius Loudon was a Scottish botanist, garden and cemetery designer, author and garden magazine editor.-Background:...

 in 1838, and Ulmus 'Viscosa' Koch.

Pests and diseases

The tree is not known to have any significant resistance to Dutch elm disease

Dutch elm disease

Dutch elm disease is a disease caused by a member of the sac fungi category, affecting 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...

.

Cultivation

Two specimens are known to survive, one in the USA and the other in the UK, the latter treated as a hedging plant to avoid the attentions of the Scolytus

Scolytus

Scolytus is a genus of bark beetles . It includes several species notorious for destroying trees in the forests. The Dutch elm disease is spread in North America by two species : the native elm bark beetle, Hylurgopinus rufipes, and the European elm bark beetle, Scolytus multistriatus...

 beetles that act as vectors of Dutch elm disease

Dutch elm disease

Dutch elm disease is a disease caused by a member of the sac fungi category, affecting 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...

. Two were planted at Kew Gardens in 1871.

Etymology

The origin of the epithet is obscure, but may commemorate Philip Barker Webb

Philip Barker Webb

Philip Barker Webb was an English botanist.Webb, who was born to a wealthy aristocratic family studied languages, botany, and geology at Harrow and Oxford. He collected plants in Italy, Spain and Portugal, and was the first person to collect in the Tetuan Mountains of Morocco...

, an English botanist of the early 19th century.

Europe

• Wakehurst Place Garden
  Wakehurst Place Garden
  Wakehurst Place is National Trust property located near Ardingly, West Sussex in the High Weald of southern England , comprising a late 16th century country house and a mainly 20th century garden, managed by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew...
  
   Wakehurst Place, UK. Acc. no. 1879-21052 (as U. carpinifolia f. webbriana [sic])