Ulmus 1903 



ULMUS CAMPESTRIS, English Elm 



Ulmus campestris, Linnaeus, Sp. PL 225 (1753) (in part), and I7ora A ng/ica,^ 11 (1754) (not Smith «) ; 



Loudon,^ Ari. et Frut. Brit. iii. 1374 (1838) (in part); Planchon, in De CandoUe, Prod. xvii. 



156 (1873) (in part); Moss, in Gard. Chron. li. 199 (1912). 

 Ulmus saliva,^ Miller, Gard. Diet. ed. 8, No. 3 (1768). 

 Ulmus suberosa. Smith, Eng. Bot. t. 2 161 (1810) (not Moench or Ehrhart); Loudon, Arb. et Frut. 



Brit. iii. 1395 (1838) (in part); Lindley, Syn. Brit. Flora, 226 (1829). 

 Ulmus atinia, Walker, Essays Nat. Hist. 70 (181 2). 

 Ulmus surculosa, Stokes, var. latifolia, Stokes, Bot. Mat. Med. ii. 35 (181 2); Ley, in Journ. Bot. 



xlviii. 72 (19 10). 



A tree attaining 1 30 ft. in height and 20 ft. in girth, with a tall straight stem, 

 and spreading or ascending branches, rather variable in habit, but usually forming in 

 the open a broad or narrow oval crown. Bark dark- coloured, deeply fissured. Young 

 branchlets densely pubescent with short erect white hairs, more or less retained in 

 the second year, when the twigs become finely striate. Buds ovoid, with minutely 

 pubescent ciliate scales. Leaves (Plate 412, Fig. 14) broadly oval or ovate, about 

 2 to 3 in. long, and i|- to 2 in. wide, very oblique at the base, shortly acuminate at 

 the apex ; upper surface dark green, scabrous, with a scattered minute pubescence, 

 conspicuous on the midrib ; lower surface pale green, with broad ^ conspicuous white 

 axil-tufts prolonged along the sides of the midrib, and covered between the nerves 



1 Linnseus, Flora Anglica, 11 (1754), identifies his U. campestris -^ix^ one of the four elms mentioned by Ray, Syn. 

 Meth. 468 (1724), namely, No. i, U. vulgatissima folio lato scabro, Gerarde, Emac. 1480, which is the English elm. Accord- 

 ing to the rules of the Vienna Congress, the correct name, as it is the earliest, of the English elm must then be U. campestris, 

 Linnaeus, which cannot be applied to any other species. Continental botanists usually mean by U. campestris, all the European 

 elms, except U. montana and U. pedunculata. U. campestris. Miller, Gard. Diet. ed. 8, No. i (1768), described as "the 

 common rough or broad-leaved wild elm . . . very common in the north-west counties of England, where it is generally 

 believed to grow naturally in the woods," is U. montana, and not the English elm, as asserted in Gard. Chron. li. 199 (1912). 



2 Smith, Eng. Bot. t. 1886 (1808), is U. miner. See p. 1901. 



' Loudon's accotmt of the English elm is very confiised^ and his reference to Smith, Eng. Bot. t. 1886, is erroneous. He 

 also fails to recognise that U. suberosa. Smith, Eng. Bot. t. 2161, is the English elm, and is quite different from U. suberosa, 

 Moench, which is the corky-twigged variety of U. nitens. 



* Miller's U. sativa, which he calls "the small-leaved or English elm," is in my opinion the tree which is still named 

 English elm and which is described above as U. campestris, L. The name " sativa" implies that it was commonly culti- 

 vated ; and Miller states that it was planted near London. No other elm can have been meant, as it is certain that U. 

 campestris was known near London under the name of English elm in Miller's time. The Society for the Encouragement of 

 Arts offered a gold medal in 1765 (and also in subsequent years) "for properly planting the greatest number of the small- 

 leaved English elms for raising timber, commonly used for keels of ships and water- works." [Cf. Museum Rusticum, iv. 

 380 (1765).] The elm that was used for making water-pipes was U, campestris, L., as is shown by T. H. W.'s clear account 

 of the species around London, in Gentleman's Magazine, Iv. 453 (1785). John Harrison, nurseryman at Cambridge, plainly 

 means U. campestris by the English elm, in his New Method, 33 (1766) : " That which we call the English elm, is peculiar 

 only to the southern part of this island, where it grows wild in hedgerows ; there is not a tree of that kind to be seen in the 

 northern counties, but what has been planted within seventy or eighty years; and these are either m avenues or some 

 plantations near gentlemen's seats." Cf. also Hunter, Evelyn's Sylva, 124 (1776). Miller quotes as a synonym Gerarde's 

 Ulmus minor folio angusto scairo, of which he took a different view from Ray, as is clearly shown in his Gard. Diet. ed. i, 

 No. 3 (1731), where this elm of Gerarde's is identified with " ihe common English elm, the timber of which is generally pre- 

 ferred to the rest, and is the largest tree when planted on a kindly soil." It is impossible to suppose that U. sativa. Miller, 

 can be the tree which is called by us U. minor, as the latter has never been called English elm, has never, so far as we 

 know, been planted anywhere, and never attains a great size. Sir J. E. Smith, Eng. Flora, ii. 21 (1824), took the same 

 view as I do regarding Miller's U. sativa. 



6 The axil-tufts are peculiar, broad, and diffused in this species. 



