| Ulmus glabra |
|---|
 Camperdown Elm, Prospect Park, Brooklyn, New York City. |
| Cultivar |
| 'Camperdownii' |
| Origin |
| Camperdown Park, Dundee, Scotland |
The Camperdown Elm Ulmus glabra 'Camperdownii' is a cultivar which cannot reproduce from seed. Although still classed as a cultivar of U. glabra, the tree was considered a nothomorph of U. × hollandica var. vegeta by Green [1] (1964), not U. glabra [1].
Contents |
Description
The grafted Camperdown Elm slowly develops a broad, flat head that may eventually build as high as 4 m (13 feet) and an incommensurately wide crown with a contorted, weeping habit [2].
Pests and diseases
A cultivar of the Wych Elm, 'Camperdownii' is susceptible to Dutch Elm disease. However there are still many examples to be found in parks and gardens across the British Isles as it often avoids detection by the Scolytae beetle (a major vector of Dutch Elm Disease) because of its diminutive height. In North America it often escapes infection possibly because the American vectors of the disease do not feed on Wych Elm; however its leaves are heavily damaged there by the Elm Leaf Beetle Xanthogaleruca luteola [2], Elm Yellows [3], and disfigured by leaf-mining and leaf-rolling insects, such as the Elm casebearer, Coleophora ulmifoliella [4].
Cultivation
About 1835 - 1840 (often miscalled as '1640'), the Earl of Camperdown’s head forester, David Taylor, discovered a mutant contorted branch growing along the ground in the forest at Camperdown House, in Dundee, Scotland. The earl's gardener produced the first Camperdown Elm by grafting it to the trunk of a Wych Elm Ulmus glabra. Every Camperdown Elm in the world is from a cutting taken from that original mutant cutting and is usually grafted on a Wych elm trunk. Other grafting stock has been used, including Dutch Elm Ulmus × hollandica, Siberian Elm Ulmus pumila, and English Elm Ulmus procera (although this ultimately produces suckers). The tree is grafted at circa 1.5 m above ground level.
Camperdown Elm is cold hardy, suffering more from summer drought than winter cold (to zone 4), although 90% of the University of Minnesota elm trials specimens were lost during the exceptionally severe winter of 2002-2003 [3]. The cultivar requires a large open space in order to develop fully, and so is not recommended for small home grounds. The tree is often confused with the much taller 'Horizontalis' (Weeping Wych Elm) owing to both being given the epithet 'Pendula' at some stage [1].
Camperdown Elms satisfied a mid-Victorian passion for curiosities in the 'Gardenesque' gardens then in vogue. Many examples were planted, as 'rarities', in Britain and America, wherever elite gardens were extensive enough for tree collections (see Arboretum). There are many on university campuses, often planted as memorials. Camperdown Elms are used in stately landscaping of American university campuses, such as at the campus of the University of California, Berkeley, where a number were planted many decades ago.[4] . Others featured in townscapes such as at the Lakeview Cemetery, Seattle, and Kripalu Yoga Center, Stockbridge, MA. The tree was also introduced to Australia, where a number still survive, notably in Victoria.
Notable trees
In Prospect Park, Brooklyn, a Camperdown Elm planted in 1872 near the Boat House has developed into a picturesque weatherbeaten specimen, no more than four metres high, like an oversized bonsai; this tree is considered the outstanding specimen tree in Prospect Park. The UK Champion Trees as listed by TROBI [5] are in Scotland, at Baxter Gardens, Dundee, and at Ayr. In France, two grow by the gate at corner of rue de Buzenval & rue de Lagney in the Square Sarah Bernhardt, Paris (20th Arrondissement). NB: Two Corkscrew Willows at the entrance near the corner of rue de Lagny & rue Mounet Sully look the same during winter.
Synonymy
- Ulmus montana (: glabra) var. pendula: Kirchner[5], in Petzold[6] & Kirchner, Arb. Muscav., 565, 1864.
- Ulmus montana (: glabra) var. pendula camperdownii Hort.: Henry, in Henry & Elwes, Trees of Great Britain & Ireland, 7: 1867, 1913.
- Ulmus montana (: glabra) pendula nova Hort.: Kirchner, in Petzold & Kirchner, Arb. Muscav. 565, 1864, name in synonymy.
- Ulmus scampstoniensis pendula: Petzold, in Petzold & Kirchner, Arb. Muscav. 565, 1864.
Accessions
North America
- Arnold Arboretum, acc. no. 352-51.
- Bartlett Tree Experts [7], acc. nos. 1375, 2002-221.
- Brooklyn Botanic Garden [8], New York, acc. no. 240001.
- Chicago Botanic Garden, Glencoe, Illinois. 1 tree, in the Parking Lots, listed as U. × vegeta 'Camperdownii'.
- Filoli Estate & Gardens, Woodside, California. No acc. details available.
- Gilman Park Arboretum [9], Pierce, Nebraska, no. acc. details available.
- Longwood Gardens, acc. no. 2000-1338.
- New York Botanical Garden, acc. no. 529/89.
- Scott Arboretum, acc. no. 70-163
- Smith College, acc. no. 3166PA.
- University of Idaho, Moscow, Idaho
- Washington Park Arboretum, Seattle. No acc. details available.
Europe
- Arboretum de La Petite Loiterie [10], Monthodon, France. No details available
- Cambridge Botanic Garden [11], University of Cambridge, UK, no accession details available.
- Grange Farm Arboretum, Sutton St. James, Spalding, Lincolnshire, UK, acc. no. 512.
- Hortus Botanicus Nationalis, Salaspils, Latvia acc. no. 18099.
- Linnaean Gardens of Uppsala, Sweden, acc. no. 1976-1049.
- Tallinn Botanic Garden, Estonia [12], no accession details available.
- Westonbirt Arboretum [13],Tetbury, Glos., UK, no planting date or acc. no. available.
Australasia
- Eastwoodhill Arboretum [14], Gisborne, New Zealand, 3 trees, details not known.
Nurseries
North America
(Widely available)
Europe
(Widely available)
References
- ^ a b Green, P. S. (1964). Registration of cultivar names in Ulmus. Arnoldia, Vol. 24, 1964.
- ^ White, J. & More, D. (2002). Trees of Britain and Northern Europe, Cassell's, London
- ^ Giblin, C. P. & Gillman, J. H. (2006). Elms for the Twin Cities: A Guide for Selection and Maintenance. University of Minnesota.
- ^ J.Torrey, A.Kratter et al., Environmental Impact Report for the Business Administration Building, University of California, Berkeley, Earth Metrics Incorporated, California State Clearinghouse, April, 1989
- ^ Tree Register Of the British Isles
External links
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
