View source for Biology:Ulmus glabra 'Superba'

{{Short description|Elm cultivar}}
{{DISPLAYTITLE:''Ulmus glabra'' 'Superba'}}
{{Infobox Cultivar
| name = ''Ulmus glabra'' 'Superba'
| species = ''[[Biology:Ulmus glabra|Ulmus glabra]]''
| cultivar = 'Superba'
| image =  Belgium_Elm_at_Ellwanger_%26_Barry,_Rochester_NY.jpg
| image_caption = 'Superba', Mount Hope, Rochester, New York, c.1900 
| origin = England
}}
The wych elm [[Biology:Cultivar|cultivar]] '''''Ulmus glabra''''' <small>Huds.</small> ''''Superba'''', '''Blandford Elm''', with unusually large leaves, was raised by Gill's of Blandford Forum, Dorset, in the early 1840s as ''Ulmus montana superba'' and was quickly distributed to other UK nurseries.<ref name="gardchron1845p670">{{cite journal|title=New and splendid ornamental elm - Ulmus montana superba |journal=The Gardeners' Chronicle and Agricultural Gazette |date=1845|page=670|url=https://archive.org/stream/mobot31753002317912#page/670/mode/1up}}</ref> It was confirmed as a form of wych, and first described by [[Biography:John Lindley|Lindley]] in ''The Gardeners' Chronicle'', 1845,<ref name="gardchron1845p628">[https://archive.org/stream/mobot31753002317912#page/628/mode/1up Lindley, J., 'The Elm', ''The Gardeners' Chronicle and Agricultural Gazette'', 13 September 1845, p.628, col.3]</ref> later descriptions being added by Gill (1845)<ref name="gardchron1845p670"/> and Morren (1848), who called it ''U. montana'' var. ''superba''. Morren had adopted the name 'Superba' from the Fulham nurseryman Osborne in 1844, who supplied him with the tree – presumably one of the nurseries supplied by Gill.<ref name = morren1848>{{cite journal|last=Morren|first=Charles|journal=Journal d'Agriculture Pratique de Belgique|title=Notice sur l'Orme des montagnes|date=1848|volume=1|issue=1|pages=411–414|url=https://archive.org/stream/bub_gb_FxhFAAAAcAAJ#page/n428/mode/1up/|access-date=2017-02-21}}</ref> Morren states that 'Superba', already in cultivation in England, was introduced to Belgium by Denis Henrard of Saint Walburge, Liège, that in 1848 it had been present in Belgium for only three years,<ref name = morren1848/> and that this variety was the one described as 'Superba' by Osborne, whom Henrard had visited at his nursery in Fulham in September 1844.<ref name=morren1845>{{cite journal|editor-last=Morren|editor-first=Charles|journal=Annales de la Société royale d'agriculture et de botanique de Gand|title=Sur un voyage fait en Engleterre et en Écosse|pages=155–168|last=Henrard|first=D.|date=1845|volume=1|url=https://archive.org/stream/annalesdelasocie1184morr#page/157/mode/2up/|access-date=2017-02-22}}</ref> 'Blandford Elm', with leaves of the same dimensions, was soon for sale in the USA (see 'Cultivation'). 

The Späth nursery in [[Place:Berlin|Berlin]] supplied a large-leaved<ref name=spath1903>{{cite book |date=1902–1903|title=Katalog|publisher=L. Späth Baumschulenweg|location=Berlin, Germany|volume=108|pages=132–133|url=https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:L._Sp%C3%A4th_Baumschulenweg_Katalog_1903_pages_131-133.pdf}}</ref> ''U. montana superba'' from 1885<ref name="Elwes">{{cite book|last1=Elwes|first1=Henry John|last2=Henry|first2=Augustine|author-link2=Augustine Henry|date=1913|title=The Trees of Great Britain & Ireland|volume=7|pages=1873–1874|url=https://archive.org/stream/treesofgreatbrit07elweuoft#page/1873/mode/2up}} Republished 2004 Cambridge University Press, {{ISBN|9781108069380}}</ref> to the 1930s.<ref name=spath1903>{{cite book |date=1902–1903|title=Katalog|publisher=L. Späth Baumschulenweg|location=Berlin, Germany|volume=108|pages=132–133|url=https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:L._Sp%C3%A4th_Baumschulenweg_Katalog_1903_pages_131-133.pdf}}</ref><ref name="SpathBuche1930">{{cite book|last1=Späth|first1=Ludwig|title=Späth-Buch, 1720-1930|date=1930|publisher=Self published|location=Berlin|pages=311–313, 351–352}}</ref> H. Jensen<ref group=note>Possibly Holger Jensen, after whom '[[Biology:Ulmus glabra 'Holgeri'|Holgeri]]' was named.</ref> examined the tree at Späth's nursery and confirmed (1912) that it was identical to Morren's ''Ulmus montana superba''.<ref name=mittdeuv22p302>{{cite journal|last=Beissner|first=Ludwig|journal=Mitteilungen der Deutschen Dendrologischen Gesellschaft|title=Ulmus praestans|volume=21|year=1912|pages=227|url=https://archive.org/stream/mitteilungenderd2123deut#page/n243/mode/2up/}}</ref> Späth's catalogue of 1911–12, however, had erroneously claimed that a [[Biology:Ulmus × hollandica 'Superba'|''U. praestans'' <small>E. Schoch</small>]] was synonymous with Morren's ''U. montana superba''.<ref>Späth catalogue 1911/12, p.137</ref> Hartwig, who received specimens of ''U. praestans'' from Kiessling of the Magdeburg city nursery in 1908, said (1912) that "''Ulmus montana superba'', supposedly the same [as ''U. praestans''], looks quite different when young, being wide with large, broad, dull green leaves, whereas ... ''U. praestans'' show an elongated medium-sized shiny green leaf and densely pyramidal crown". He concluded that ''U. praestans'' was not ''Ulmus montana superba''.<ref name=mittdeuv21p227>{{cite journal|last=Hartwig|first=Karl Gustav|journal=Mitteilungen der Deutschen Dendrologischen Gesellschaft|title=Ulmus praestans|volume=22|year=1913|pages=302|url=https://archive.org/stream/mitteilungenderd2123deut#page/n805/mode/2up/}}</ref> Späth admitted the error in an article in Möller's ''Deutsche Gärtner-Zeitung'' (1912),<ref name="Mollerv27i15p177">{{cite journal|last1=Spath|first1=L|title=Ulmus praestans = U. montana superba|journal=Möllers Deutsche Gärtner-Zeitung|date=1912|volume=27|issue=15|page=177|url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?&num=177&u=1&seq=11&view=1up&size=100&id=uiug.30112117964426|access-date=17 October 2017}}</ref> where he stated that ''U. praestans'' <small>E. Schoch</small> was an [[Biology:Ulmus × hollandica|''Ulmus'' × ''hollandica'']] hybrid, and implied that Morren's tree was a form of ''U. montana'' (wych elm). In later catalogues the nursery distinguished between Morren's ''Ulmus montana superba'' and the hybrid ''U. praestans'' <small>E. Schoch</small> (for which he adopted Henry's synonym ''Ulmus superba'' <small>Henry</small>), marketing both cultivars in the post-war period.<ref name="SpathBuche1930"/>

Späth was not the only botanist to confuse wych and [[Biology:Hybrid|hybrid]] 'Superba'. Though Loudon in his description (1838) of Canterbury Elm, ''Ulmus montana glabra major'', had made no reference to large leaves,<ref name=Loudon1838>{{cite book |volume=3|last=Loudon|first=John Claudius|date=1838 |title=Arboretum et fruticetum Britannicum|pages=1404|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qGYEAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA1404}}</ref><ref name=Hanham>Hanham, F. (1857). [https://archive.org/details/manualforparkorb00hanh ''A Manual for the Park''] (Royal Victoria Park, Bath). Longman, London.</ref> Boulger tentatively (1881)<ref name="Boulger1881p39">{{cite journal|last1=Boulger|first1=George Simonds|editor1-last=McLaren|editor1-first=John|title=On British Elms|journal=Transactions of the Royal Scottish Arboricultural Society|date=1881|volume=9|page=39|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Z57kAAAAMAAJ|access-date=18 October 2017|location=Edinburgh}}</ref> and Green more confidently (1964)<ref name=Green>{{cite journal |last=Green |first=Peter Shaw |date=1964 |title=Registration of cultivar names in Ulmus|url=https://archive.org/stream/arnoldiaarno_21#page/40/mode/2up/|journal=Arnoldia |volume=24|pages=41–80 |number=6–8 |publisher=Arnold Arboretum, [[Organization:Harvard University|Harvard University]] |access-date=16 February 2017}}</ref> equated Canterbury Elm with Morren's ''U. montana'' var. ''superba'', a synonym not included in Rehder's lists (1915 & 1949).<ref name="Rehder1915">{{cite journal|last1=Rehder|first1=Alfred|title=Neue order kritische Gehölze|journal=Mitteilungen der Deutschen Dendrologischen Gesellschaft|date=1915|volume=24|pages=215–219|url=https://archive.org/stream/mitteilungenderd2426deut#page/n244/mode/1up/|access-date=18 October 2017}}</ref><ref name="Rehder1949Ulmaceae">{{cite book|last1=Rehder|first1=Alfred|title=Bibliography of cultivated trees and shrubs hardy in the cooler temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere|publisher=The Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University|location=Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts|pages=135–143|chapter-url=https://archive.org/stream/bibliographyofcu00rehd#page/135/mode/1up/|access-date=18 October 2017|chapter=Ulmaceae}}</ref> Loudon's description of Canterbury Elm, a fast-growing hybrid like Huntingdon Elm, holding its leaves late, does, however, match descriptions of [[Biology:Ulmus × hollandica 'Superba'|''U.'' × ''hollandica'' 'Superba']] [''U. praestans''].
 
==Description==
Descriptions of 'Superba' cultivars vary, as do herbarium specimens, confirming that more than one clone has been given the name. Gill's ''Ulmus montana superba'' had very large leaves, {{convert|10|in|cm|abbr=on}} long by {{convert|6|in|cm|abbr=on}} wide.<ref name="gardchron1845p670" /> Osborne and Morren's ''Ulmus montana'' var. ''superba'' likewise had very large wych-like leaves, to 26 by 15&nbsp;cm, with a tapering tip to 3–4&nbsp;cm long.<ref name=morren1845>{{cite journal|editor-last=Morren|editor-first=Charles|journal=Annales de la Société royale d'agriculture et de botanique de Gand|title=Sur un voyage fait en Engleterre et en Écosse|pages=155–168|last=Henrard|first=D.|date=1845|volume=1|url=https://archive.org/stream/annalesdelasocie1184morr#page/157/mode/2up/|access-date=2017-02-22}}</ref> The matching names, measurements and dates confirm that Gill's, and Osborne and Morren's, trees were the same clone. An 1880 herbarium specimen showing a large-leaved wych cultivar at [[Organization:Kew Gardens|Kew Gardens]], labelled ''U. montana superba'', has dimensions similar to those given by Gill and Morren (juvenile elm leaves may be larger than those of mature canopy-leaves).<ref name = E00824742 group = herb>{{Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh |id=E00824742 }} Sheet described as ''U. montana'' var. ''superba'' (Kew Gardens specimen, 1880)</ref> The ''Ulmus'' 'Superba', 'Blandford Elm', in the 1902 catalogue of the Bobbink and Atkins nursery, Rutherford, New Jersey, was described as "a noble tree of large size and quick growth", with "large dark green foliage and smooth, grayish bark" (presumably in young specimens).<ref name=bobink>{{cite book|date=1902 |title=Bobbink and Atkins, Rutherford. N.J.|pages=51|url=https://archive.org/stream/CAT31285383#page/51/mode/2up|publisher=Rutherford, N.J. : Bobbink & Atkins}}</ref>
<gallery>
File:Ulmus montana superba. Morren (1848).jpg|Leaf-drawing (1848) of Osborne and Morren's 'Superba', leaves to 26 × 15 &nbsp;cm.<ref name = morren1848/>
</gallery>

==Etymology==
Morren states that 'Superba' was so called "parce qu'en effet cette variété l'emporte sur les autres par sa beauté" [:because indeed this variety surpasses others in beauty].<ref name = morren1848/>

==Pests and diseases==
With the exception of Exeter Elm and dwarf wych, ''U. glabra'' <small>Huds.</small> cultivars are not noted for any resistance to [[Biology:Dutch elm disease|Dutch elm disease]].

==Cultivation==
An 1880 [[Organization:Kew Gardens|Kew Gardens]] herbarium specimen, from one of the arboretum's own trees, labelled ''U. montana'' var. ''Superba'' and matching Lindley's description, confirms that Gill's tree was present at Kew (see 'External links'). Mid 20th-century herbarium specimens from the Wageningen Aboretum, The Netherlands, show a wych cultivar there "formerly labelled ''Ulmus × hollandica'' 'Superba'".<ref name = WAG.1846734 group = herb>{{Naturalis Biodiversity Center |id=WAG.1846734 }} Sheet labelled ''Ulmus glabra'' <small>Huds.</small>, formerly called 'Superba'</ref><ref name = WAG.1846731 group = herb>{{Naturalis Biodiversity Center |id=WAG.1846731 }} Sheet labelled ''Ulmus glabra'' <small>Huds.</small>, formerly called 'Superba'</ref><ref name = WAG.1846732 group = herb>{{Naturalis Biodiversity Center |id=WAG.1846732 }} Sheet labelled ''Ulmus glabra'' <small>Huds.</small>, formerly called 'Superba' (with samarae)</ref>

''Ulmus montana superba'', 'The superb-leaved elm', appeared in the catalogues of Hovey's nursery of Boston, Massachusetts, from the 1850s.<ref>[https://archive.org/details/catalogueofornam1855hove/page/4 Hovey & Co., Boston, Mass., ''Catalogue of ornamental trees & shrubs, evergreens and climbing plants'', 1855, p.5]</ref> 'Blan[d]ford Elm (''superba'')', with "remarkably large leaves", appeared in the 1868 catalogue of the Mount Hope Nursery (also known as Ellwanger and Barry) of Rochester, New York;<ref name = "E&B1868">[https://archive.org/details/ellwangerbarrysd1868moun/page/8 Ellwanger & Barry, ''Descriptive Catalogue of Hardy Ornamental Trees ... at the Mount Hope Nurseries'' (Rochester, N.Y., 1868), p.9]</ref><ref name = "Ell&Barr1875">Ellwanger & Barry, ''Descriptive Catalogue of Hardy Ornamental Trees ... at the Mount Hope Nurseries'' (Rochester, N.Y., 1875)</ref> by the 1880 catalogue it was listed as ''U. montana'' var. ''superba'' (Blandford Elm), "A noble tree of large size and quick growth; foliage large and dark green; bark smooth and grayish".<ref>[https://archive.org/details/descriptivecatal1880ellw/page/38 Ellwanger & Barry, ''Descriptive catalogue of hardy ornamental trees, shrubs, etc.'' (Rochester, NY, 1880), p.39]</ref> Under the same name and description it appeared in the catalogues of the Bobbink and Atkins nursery, Rutherford, New Jersey,<ref name=bobink>{{cite book|date=1902 |title=Bobbink and Atkins, Rutherford. N.J.|pages=51|url=https://archive.org/stream/CAT31285383#page/51/mode/2up|publisher=Rutherford, N.J. : Bobbink & Atkins}}</ref><ref name="bobink 3">{{cite book|date=1909|title=Bobbink and Atkins, Rutherford. N.J.|pages=51|url=https://archive.org/stream/CAT31288204#page/51/mode/2up|publisher=Rutherford, N.J. : Bobbink & Atkins}}</ref> and in Kelsey's 1904 catalogue, New York.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/stream/CAT31286703#page/18/mode/2up|title=General catalogue, 1904 : choice hardy trees, shrubs, evergreens, roses, herbaceous plants, fruits, etc.|publisher=Frederick W. Kelsey|year=1904|location=New York|pages=18}}</ref> The absence of Späth's names from the Bobbink and Atkins and the Kelsey lists and their use of 'Blandford Elm' suggest that the cultivar was Gill's clone.

A cultivar listed in 2008 as ''Ulmus × hollandica'' 'Blandford' by the Urban Forestry Administration of the District Department of Transportation in [[Place:Washington, D.C.|Washington, D.C.]], as one of its 'street trees', is likely to have been Blandford Elm misnamed as a hybrid, or [[Biology:Ulmus × hollandica 'Superba'|hybrid 'Superba']] misnamed 'Blandford'.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://app.ddot.dc.gov/ufa/information/tree_list_common_2.shtm|title=Urban Forestry Administration|website=District Department of Transportation|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100716134954/http://app.ddot.dc.gov/ufa/information/tree_list_common_2.shtm|archive-date=16 July 2010|access-date=20 June 2016}}</ref>

Given Späth's pre-1912 naming error, it is not clear whether one planting of ''U. montana superba'' at the Dominion Arboretum, [[Place:Ottawa|Ottawa]], {{wipe|Canada}}, in 1896, sourced from Späth,<ref name = Ottawa1899>{{Cite book|last1=Saunders|first1=William|last2=Macoun|first2=William Tyrrell|url=https://archive.org/stream/bulletinissues00ottogoog#page/n80/mode/2up/|title=Catalogue of the trees and shrubs in the arboretum and botanic gardens at the central experimental farm|year=1899|edition=2|pages=74–75|publisher=Ottawa}}</ref> was the wych or the [[Biology:Ulmus × hollandica 'Superba'|hybrid 'Superba']]. The specimen (no. 42304) maintained as part of a low hedge at Wakehurst Place, Sussex (2020), grown from a cutting from Ottawa donated in 1949, is, however, listed as the hybrid 'Superba',<ref name="epic_ePIC">{{Cite web | title = ePIC - Detailed results from Living collection for ulmus | work = epic.kew.org | access-date = 2017-10-19 | url = http://epic.kew.org/searchepic/detailquery.do?requiredPage=2&detailDatasource=livcoll&scientificName=ulmus&datasources=ipni&datasources=mc&datasources=kr&datasources=ebbd&datasources=libcat&datasources=pmb&datasources=herbcat&datasources=ecbot&datasources=livcoll&datasources=sid&datasources=sepasal&datasources=efz&categories=names&categories=bibl&categories=colln&categories=taxon&categories=flora }}</ref> suggesting that 1896 Ottawa planting may likewise have been the hybrid.

==Notable trees==
A large-leaved elm described as ''Ulmus campestris'' 'Superba' obtained from Louis van Houtte of Ghent, Belgium, before 1841 was photographed at the Ellwanger and Barry nursery at Mount Hope, Rochester, New York, c. 1900.<ref name=florists1903>{{cite journal|last=Meeham|first=Joseph|journal=The Florists' Exchange|title=Ulmus Campestris Superba|date=1903|pages=230|volume=15|url=https://archive.org/stream/floristsexchange10newy#page/230/mode/1up/}}</ref> The photograph is also captioned 'Belgium Elm', possibly a reference to its source rather than a confusion with the hybrid [[Biology:Ulmus × hollandica 'Belgica'|'Belgica']].<ref name=florists1903/> As the nursery later stocked the wych 'Superba', Blandford Elm, it is probable that propagation was from this tree.<ref name = "E&B1868"/> Arnold Arboretum identified it in 1915 as a varietal form of ''Ulmus glabra'' <small>Huds.</small>, which would match Blandford Elm, despite the apparent discrepancy in dates.<ref name=arnoldarb1915>{{cite journal |date=23 July 1915 |title=European Elms|url=http://arnoldia.arboretum.harvard.edu/pdf/articles/1915-1--july-23.pdf|journal=Bulletin of Popular Information |volume=1|pages=56 |number=14 |publisher=Arnold Arboretum, [[Organization:Harvard University|Harvard University]] |access-date=18 October 2016}}</ref>
 
==Putative specimens in the UK==
An old example of what appears to be the same clone as the 1880 Kew large-leaved 'Superba' survives (2019) on Leith Links, Edinburgh. The Edinburgh tree has wych [[Biology:Samara (fruit)|samarae]] and short petioles, with no evidence of hybridization.
<gallery>
File:AZ0105. Ulmus. August. Hermitage Place, Leith Links, Edinburgh. 02.jpg|Large-leafed wych cultivar, Leith Links, Edinburgh. 
File:AZ0105. Ulmus. Leaves. Hermitage Place, Leith Links, Edinburgh. 01.jpg|Foliage of same matching Kew's 1880 'Superba'
File:AZ0105. Ulmus. Leaves. Hermitage Place, Leith Links, Edinburgh. 04.jpg|Close-up of leaves
File:AZ0105. Ulmus. Underside of leaves. Hermitage Place, Leith Links, Edinburgh. 03.jpg|Underside of long shoot
File:Ulmus. Hermitage Place, Leith Links, Edinburgh (4).jpg|Bole
File:Ulmus. Hermitage Place, Leith Links, Edinburgh (1).jpg|Same, autumn
</gallery>

==Notes==
{{reflist|group=note|2}}

==Herbarium Specimens==
{{reflist|group=herb}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==


{{DEFAULTSORT:Ulmus glabra 'Superba'}}
[[Category:Ulmus]]

{{Sourceattribution|Ulmus glabra 'Superba'}}