Ulmus × hollandica 'Dauvessei'

The hybrid elm cultivar Ulmus × hollandica 'Dauvessei', one of a number of cultivars arising from the crossing of the Wych Elm U. glabra with a variety of Field Elm U. minor, is a very rare cultivar said to have originated at the D. Dauvesse nursery in Orléans, France before 1877.[1][2]

Ulmus × hollandica 'Dauvessei'
Hybrid parentageU. glabra × U. minor
Cultivar'Dauvessei'
OriginFrance[1]

Description

According to Henry's description (1913) based on a tree at Kew, the branches ascend to form a broad, pyramidal crown; the leaves bear a resemblance to Wych Elm, but are generally smaller, rarely exceeding 10 cm long by 5 cm wide, and thinner in texture, with petioles nearly 1 cm long.[3][4] Krüssmann added that the leaf-base was more oblique.[2]

The US National Arboretum, however, described the 'Dauvessei' that once grew in West Potomac Park, Washington, D.C., as similar in appearance to English Elm (in its lower latitude growth-form), forking at about 2 metres, reaching about 20 m tall by 18 m broad.[5] Herbarium specimens from the Washington trees show less elongated, rounder leaves than those at Kew, with fewer vein-pairs (see 'External Links').

Pests and diseases

The tree is susceptible to Dutch elm disease.

Cultivation

There are no confirmed surviving specimens of 'Dauvessei'. A tree obtained from Lee of Hammersmith in 1879 grew at Kew Gardens, where it attained a height of 40 feet (12 m).[3] In the United States specimens stood along The Mall in Washington D.C. among American Elms on either side of the Reflecting Pool (2009),[6][7] but it is not known whether any survive. A 2018 Cornell University study of the National Mall elms found five possible Ulmus × hollandica there (cultivar unidentified).[8] A tree acquired from the Nobelius nursery in 1929 and grown at the University of Adelaide Waite Arboretum, Australia, died in 1997; Melville confirmed the 'Dauvessei' identification, reconfirmed by the arboretum in 1992.[9]

Putative specimen

In the UK a broad pyramidal tree matching 'Dauvessei' descriptions[3][2] and 'Dauvessei' herbarium material from a specimen in West Potomac Park, Washington, D.C., producing hybrid-type samarae, stands in the east corner of Claremont Park, Leith, by Seafield Place. Its location and tidy shape suggest a named cultivar.[10][11][12]

  • Seafield Place elm
    Seafield Place elm
  • Bole of same
    Bole of same
  • Leaves of same, August
    Leaves of same, August
  • Foliage, October
    Foliage, October
  • Samarae of same
    Samarae of same
  • Same, spring
    Same, spring

Hybrid cultivars

'Dauvessei' was crossed with Ulmus × hollandica, U. glabra, and U. minor in the Dutch elm breeding programme before World War II, but none of the progeny were of particular note and were discarded.[13]

Synonymy

References
  1. Jacobson, Arthur Lee (1996). North American Landscape Trees. p. 655. ISBN 9780898158137.
  2. Krüssman, Gerd (1984). Manual of Cultivated Broad-Leaved Trees & Shrubs. Vol. 3. p. 410.
  3. Elwes, Henry John; Henry, Augustine (1913). The Trees of Great Britain & Ireland. Vol. 7. p. 1874. Republished 2004 Cambridge University Press, ISBN 9781108069380
  4. Green, Peter Shaw (1964). "Registration of cultivar names in Ulmus". Arnoldia. Arnold Arboretum, Harvard University. 24 (6–8): 41–80. Retrieved 16 February 2017.
  5. Label of herbarium specimen WAG.1847155, Botany Catalogues, Naturalis Biodiversity Center. West Potomac Park specimen, Washington, D.C.
  6. Sherald, James L., 'Elms of the Monumental Core' (Washington D.C.), National Park Service (2009),  p.7
  7. bioportal.naturalis.nl, specimen WAG.1847155
  8. Bassuk, Denig, Harada, Neal: 'The state of the elms on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.: tree & soil conditions' (2018); hort.cornell.edu
  9. Information from Waite Arboretum, 2018, on accession no. 430, Ulmus × hollandica 'Dauvessei'
  10. Google Maps: Seafield Pl - Google Maps (May 2015), accessdate: August 19, 2016
  11. Google Maps: Seafield Pl - Google Maps (July 2008), accessdate: August 19, 2016
  12. Ulmus × hollandica 'Dauvessei'; Conservation Foundation, conservationfoundation.co.uk
  13. Went, J. A. (1954). The Dutch elm disease - Summary of 15 years' hybridisation and selection work (1937–1952). European Journal of Plant Pathology, Vol 60, 2, March 1954.

Kew specimen

Washington specimens
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