The Wych Elm

Wych Elm

Ulmus glabra, the Wych elm or Scots elm, has the widest range of the European elm species, from Ireland eastwards to the Urals, and from the Arctic Circle south to the mountains of the Peloponnese in Greece; it is also found in Iran...

 Ulmus glabra cultivar 'Nigra

Nigra

-Internet:* An internet avatar style that began in Habbo Hotel that included an afro and a suit* Patriotic Nigras, a group of griefers in the online video game Second Life-Medical:...

', the Black Irish Elm, was first mentioned by Loddiges

Loddiges

The Loddiges family managed one of the most notable of the eighteenth and nineteenth century plant nurseries that traded in and introduced exotic plants, trees, shrubs, ferns, palms and orchids into European gardens....

, ex Loudon

John Claudius Loudon

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

, in Arb. Frut. Brit. 3: 1898.

Cultivation

A possible specimen survives at Wakehurst Place

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...

 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, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

, where it is kept cut low as part of a hedge to spare it the attentions of the bark beetles which 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...

. The tree is not known to have been introduced to North America

North America

North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...

 or Australasia

Australasia

Australasia is a region of Oceania comprising 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...

, nor is it known to be in commerce.

Synonymy

• Ulmus cinerea: Kirchnerhttp://asaweb.huh.harvard.edu:8080/databases/botanists?id=102729, in Petzoldhttp://asaweb.huh.harvard.edu:8080/databases/botanists?id=102728 & Kirchner, Arb. Muscav. 559, 1864, name in synonymy.
• ?Ulmus glabra 'Cinerea': RBG Electronic Plant Information Centre 2007.

Accessions

Europe

• ?Wakehurst Place
  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...
  
  , acc. no. 1973.21051, as U. glabra 'Cinerea'