1906 The Trees of Great Britain and Ireland 



6, Var. Berardii, Simon- Louis. Cat. 1869, p. 96. 



A small tree or shrub, with minute leaves, i to | in. long, firm in texture, 

 deeply incised with a few teeth, almost glabrous ; petioles, as well as the young 

 branchlets, pubescent. This peculiar variety, with leaves somewhat resembling 

 those of Zelkova Verschaffeltii, but smaller, was raised by Simon-Louis from seeds 

 gathered in 1863 from the large elms growing on the ramparts at Metz. There is 

 a specimen at Kew, about 10 ft. high, which was obtained from Spath in 1902 



At Kew there is a small tree raised from seed collected by me off a tree at 

 Nancy in 1903, which has similar minute leaves, but scabrous above and pubescent 

 beneath, and biserrate in margin. This is one of a number of seedlings raised from 

 the same lot of seed, which differed extraordinarily in the size and other characters 

 of the leaves, showing that the parent tree was a hybrid. 



In the Kew herbarium there are remarkable specimens of an elm with minute 

 foliage, which were gathered in Jersey by Oliver in 1874 and 1880, but of which I 

 can learn no particulars. Mr. Miller Christy sent me in 191 1 a branch with minute 

 leaves of an elm, like a bush and only 4 ft. high, which grows close to the shore at 

 the foot of the cliff at West Mersea, Essex. Elwes collected a similar specimen in 

 a hedgerow between Bisterne and Ringwood. 



7. Var. viminalis, Loudon, Arb. et Frut. Brit. iii. 1376 (1838). 



Ulmus viminalis, Loddiges, Cat. 1836. 



Ulmus antarctica, Petzold and Kirchner, Arb. Muse. 552 (1864). 



A tree, with ascending branches, pendulous branchlets, and sparse foliage. 

 Leaves (Plate 412, Fig. 22) incised on the margin with deep serrated teeth: about 

 I J to 2^ in. long, obovate-elliptic or narrowly elliptic, often nearly equal at the 

 base, long-acuminate at the apex, scabrous above, slightly pubescent beneath, with 

 conspicuous axil-tufts. Young branchlets slightly pubescent. 



This variety is said by Loudon to have been raised by Masters in 18 17 from 

 seeds of the common English elm ; but it appears to me to be identical with the elm 

 described by Plot^ in 1677 as occurring in avenues at Hanwell, "where there is a 

 whole walk of them planted in order, besides others that grow wild in the coppices 

 of the park." Plot describes this elm as having a narrow leaf with a peculiar kind 

 of pointed ending, and his figure is unmistakably that of var. viminalis. Mr. Druce 

 states " that the avenue at Hanwell is now composed of English elm. 



The best tree of this variety that we know of is at Milton Abbey, Dorsetshire, the 

 seat of Sir A. E. Hambro. It measured in 1906 71 ft. by 6 ft. 4 in., and resembled 

 in habit the Cornish elm. A tree in the Cambridge Botanic Garden is about 70 ft. 

 high. There are three trees ^ at Kew, two about 35 ft. high, which are labelled 

 var. viminalis, and are of unknown origin, but evidently of considerable age ; and 

 one precisely alike in foliage, but labelled U. campestris antarctica, which was obtained 



1 Nat. Hist. Oxfordshire, 158, plate x. fig. 1 (1677). 



2 In Card. Chron. 1. 408 (191 1). Druce's identification of Plot's elms with the tree (which he calls V. Plotii) 

 now growing at Banbury and elsewhere is, in my opinion, erroneous. Cf. Moss, in Gard. Chron. li. 234, figs. 104-106 

 (1912). Cf. also p. 1901, note 3. 



3 Another tree at Kew, 18 ft. high, which was obtained from Osborne in 1879 and is labelled var. betulatfolia, scarcely 

 differs from var. viminalis. 



