Ulmus minor 'Rueppellii'

Ulmus minor
Cultivar	'Rueppellii'
Origin	Europe

Ulmus minor 'Rueppellii' is a Field Elm cultivar said to have been introduced to Europe from Tashkent by the Späth nursery, Berlin.^[1][2] Noted in 1881 as a 'new elm',^[3] it was listed in Späth Catalogue 73, p. 124, 1888–89, as Ulmus campestris Rueppelli, and later by Krüssmann as a cultivar.^[4]

Description

A pyramidal tree with a single stem, and numerous ascending branches forming a globose or ovoid crown, much like 'Umbraculifera'.^[5] The branches are slightly corky, and the branchlets pubescent, bearing small leaves similar to those of the Cornish Elm. The leaves were said to measure 6–7 cm long by 4–5 cm wide.^[6]

• 
  Leaf of 'Rueppellii'
• 
  Leaves of Links Place elm, Edinburgh (see Cultivation below)

Pests and diseases

A specimen at the Ryston Hall , Norfolk, arboretum, obtained from the Späth nursery before 1914,^[7] was killed by the earlier strain of Dutch elm disease Ophiostoma ulmi prevalent in the 1930s.

Cultivation

No specimens are known to survive. One tree was planted as U. campestris 'Rueppelli' in 1897 at the Dominion Arboretum, Ottowa, Canada.^[8] Two specimens were grown at Kew Gardens before the First World War, obtained from the Barbier nursery, France.^[9] Three specimens supplied by the Späth nursery to the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh in 1902 as U. campestris 'Rueppelli' may survive in Edinburgh, as it was the practice of the Garden to distribute trees about the city (viz. the Wentworth Elm).^[10] The current list of Living Accessions held in the Garden per se does not list the plant.^[11] An unidentified suckering Field Elm cultivar in Links Place, Leith Links (2016), matches the description, leaf-drawing and herbarium specimen of 'Rueppellii',^[12] and may be one of the three.

• 
  Links Place elm
• 
  The same
• 
  Bole of same
• 
  Bark of same
• 
  Leaves of same
• 
  Underside
• 
  Tree labelled U. densa Litv. (for comparison)

Etymology

The tree is named either for Julius Rüppell, owner of the Peter Smith & Co nursery in Hamburg during the latter part of the 19th century,^[3] or for the naturalist and explorer Eduard Rüppell.^[6]

Accessions

None known.

References

1. Späth, L., Späth-Buch, 1720-1930 (Berlin 1930), p.311
2. Krüssman, Gerd, Manual of Cultivated Broad-Leaved Trees & Shrubs (1984 vol. 3)
3. "Zwei neue Ulmen". Hamburger Garten-und Blumenzeitung. 37: 85. 1881.
4. Krüssmann, Johann Gerd (1962). Handbuch der Laubgehölze. 2. p. 535.
5. Green, Peter Shaw (1964). "Registration of cultivar names in Ulmus" (PDF). Arnoldia. Arnold Arboretum, Harvard University. 24 (6–8): 41–80. Retrieved 20 June 2016.
6. Synopsis der mitteleuropäischen Flora. 4. 1913. p. 566.
7. Ryston Hall Arboretum catalogue. c. 1920. pp. 13–14.
8. Catalogue of the trees and shrubs in the arboretum and botanic gardens at the central experimental farm (2 ed.). 1899. p. 75.
9. Elwes, Henry John; Henry, Augustine (1913). The Trees of Great Britain & Ireland. 7. p. 1893. Republished 2004 Cambridge University Press, ISBN 9781108069380
10. Accessions book. Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh. 1902. pp. 45, 47.
11. "List of Living Accessions: Ulmus". Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh. Retrieved 21 September 2016.
12. bioportal.naturalis.nl

External links

• "Herbarium specimen - WAG.1847045". Botany catalogues. Naturalis Biodiversity Center.
• "Herbarium specimen - WAG.1847046". Botany catalogues. Naturalis Biodiversity Center.
• "Herbarium specimen - WAG.1847047". Botany catalogues. Naturalis Biodiversity Center.
• "Herbarium specimen - L.1586964". Botany catalogues. Naturalis Biodiversity Center. Sheet described as U. carpinifolia Gled. cv. 'Rueppellii' (Späth) (Belder Arboretum specimen)
• "Herbarium specimen - WAG.1852698". Botany catalogues. Naturalis Biodiversity Center.
• "Herbarium specimen - WAG.1852699". Botany catalogues. Naturalis Biodiversity Center.