Exeter Elm

Ulmus cultivar
Exeter Elm in Amsterdam
Cultivar	'Exoniensis'
Origin	Exeter, England

Ulmus 'Exoniensis', the 'Exeter Elm', was discovered near Exeter, England, in 1826, and propagated by the Ford & Please nursery in that city. Traditionally believed to be a cultivar of the Wych Elm U. glabra, its fastigiate shape when young, upward-curving tracery, small samarae and leaves, late leaf-flush and late leaf-fall, taken with its south-west England provenance, suggest a link with the Cornish Elm, which shares these characteristics.

The tree initially has an upright, columnar form, but later develops a large rounded crown and occasionally reaches 17 m in height. Older specimens may develop pendulous branches. Exeter Elm is chiefly distinguished by its contorted leaves, < 11 cm long by 8 cm broad, which occasionally wrap around the branchlets and remain thus well into winter. 'Exoniensis' is often pollarded to produce a denser, fan-shaped crown (see main picture).

'Exoniensis' foliage

Dried 'Exoniensis' leaves

'Exoniensis' in April

Bole of Exeter Elm

Old unpollarded Exeter Elm, Lochend Park, Edinburgh, showing pendulous branch

'Exoniensis' scion grafted on U. minor stock

'Exoniensis' possesses a moderate resistance to Dutch elm disease, and consequently often featured in the Dutch elm breeding programme in association with the Field Elm U. minor and Himalayan Elm U. wallichiana.

Once commonly planted in the UK and parts of western Europe, 'Exoniensis' is also known to have been marketed in Poland in the 19th century by the Ulrich nursery,Warsaw, and remains in commerce there. The Späth nursery of Berlin cultivated the tree as U. montana fastigiata (U. exoniensis Hort.) from the early 20th century. It is possible that three trees supplied by the Späth nursery to the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh in 1902 as U. montana fastigiata were Exeter Elm, old specimens of which survive in Edinburgh (it was the practice of the Garden to distribute trees about the city). In Sweden 'Exoniensis' is sometimes pruned from an early age to form a tidy cone-shaped tree called locally 'pyramidalm' (: pyramid elm - also one of Späth's names for 'Exoniensis'). It is found in Australia at the Ballarat Botanical Gardens where it is listed on the Significant Tree Register of the National Trust, but is not known to have been introduced to North America.

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Wikipedia