Ulmus of King & Co

Ulmus of King & Co nursery, Rayne, are elms grown from cuttings taken in the early 1990s from two[1][2] to four[3] old trees (accounts vary) surviving in north Essex, England, amidst others afflicted by Dutch elm disease (DED).[4] Photographs of the first source tree, near Braintree, appeared in the press in 2010.[5] The second source tree is known locally as the Lynfields Elm, near Witham.[6][7] Released in 2010, the saplings are described by the nursery that marketed them as "English elm".[3][1] A 2010 genetic test referred to them as "English Elm (U. procera)", an identification presumably supplied by the nursery itself.[8] At Kew, however, three King & Co elms are listed as U. minor Mill., without a cultivar name.[9] The 2010 genetic test found the source trees sampled to be of different genotypes.[8]

Ulmus of King & Co
GenusUlmus
OriginEssex, England

The Braintree area falls within what R. H. Richens called the Essex hybridization zone, in which, as well as the English Elm clone, variable field elm is present, as well as Ulmus x hollandica (elms of mixed origin).[10][11]

The proprietor of the nursery, who in collaboration with the local tree officer took cuttings, bred 2000 trees via micropropagation.[3] The elms have been sold as forms of "English elm" with a "high resistance" to DED, covered in the national press and BBC, exhibited by the Royal Horticultural Society, and donated to and accessioned by Kew Gardens.

Description

No nursery description of the source trees is available. BBC Essex described them as "smooth-leaved elm",[2] formerly a common name for Ulmus minor subsp. minor now sunk as simply Ulmus minor, the field elm. The Lynfields elm, Witham, the second of the source trees, has shallow-toothed, elliptical short-shoot leaves (without prominent drip-tip), 2 to 2.5 in long and 1.5 to 2 in wide, on quarter-inch petioles, and vertically-fissured overlapping bark unlike that of old U. procera. It is late into leaf (unlike U. procera) and suckers heavily.[12]

Pests and diseases

All 11 specimens inoculated with the DED pathogen by Dr Jelle Hiemstra, Wageningen University, in the 2015 Noordplant trials in the Netherlands, died rapidly.[13] A degree of 'field resistance' has been noted in a small number of old field elms in areas of high infectivity.[14][15][16] The source trees were reported still in full leaf in 2016.[3] The Lynfields elm remains healthy (2023).[7]

Cultivation

Ulmus of King & Co is only sold in the United Kingdom. Leicestershire County Council had planted 12 saplings by 2010, "with a view to distributing more to schools".[1] Three specimens donated in 2010 by King and Co to Kew Gardens were thriving in 2023.[17] Specimens were exhibited by the Royal Horticultural Society in 2011.[3] The original batch of two thousand saplings was reported sold by 2017.[3]

References
  1. Milmo, Cahal (2010-06-08). "Has a cure been found for Dutch Elm Disease?". The Independent. London. Retrieved 2017-02-10.
  2. "Dutch elm disease resistant trees nurtured in Rayne". BBC. London. 2010-06-14. Retrieved 2017-03-08.
  3. King & Co. "Elm trees (Ulmus species)". King and Co The Tree Nursery Ltd. Retrieved 2017-02-10.
  4. "New British tree 'resistant to Dutch Elm Disease'". The Telegraph. London. 2010-06-07. Retrieved 2017-02-10.
  5. 8th and 10th June 2010
  6. Macaully Moffat, 'Campaign to save Witham Elm tree amid 400 homes bid', Braintree and Witham Times, 19 November 2021; braintreeandwithamtimes.co.uk
  7. The Lynfields or Lynfield elm, Hatfield Road, Witham - Google Maps, May 2023, access date: 30 June 2023
  8. 'Genotyping of seven English Elm (Ulmus procera) samples for Mr Paul King of King and Co The Tree Company Limited'. Operator(s): Felicidad Fernández & Laima Antanaviciute
  9. Kew Accessions: 2010 Nos. 99, 100, 102, [1089, 1841, 2297]
  10. Richens, R. H. (1983). Elm. Cambridge University Press; p.244
  11. Hanson, M. W. (1990). Essex elm. London: Essex Field Club. ISBN 978-0-905637-15-0. Retrieved 2017-10-24.
  12. withamtreegroup.org.uk/files/2022/01/Tree-data-Jan-2022.pdf
  13. Brookes, A. H. (2017). Great Fontley Elm Trial, 2017 Report. Butterfly Conservation, Lulworth, England.
  14. Oliver Rackham, The History of the Countryside (London 1986), p.241
  15. Screening European Elms for resistance to 'Ophiostoma novo-ulmi' , RESGEN European Research Project CEMAGREF (Forest Science 2005)
  16. Gunner, Alec (2016-06-09). "East Anglian Elms - An assessment of characteristics of surviving trees". The 2016 International Elm Conference by The Conservation Foundation. Retrieved 2017-03-13.
  17. Kew Accessions: 2010 Nos. 99, 100, 102, [1089, 1841, 2297], donated by Mr Paul King; one in the elm collection near the Celastraceae beds past Brentford Gate; another by the entrance to the Lower Nursery from Brentford Gate, behind the Quarantine House; a third by the leaning stone pine on the lawn adjacent to the Great Lawn, close to the corner by the triangle with the Quercus cerris.
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