| Ulmus 'Rugosa' | |
| Cultivar: | 'Rugosa' |
| Genus: | Ulmus |
| Origin: | France |
The elm cultivar Ulmus 'Rugosa' [:'wrinkled', the leaves], was first listed in Audibert's Tonelle (1817), as "U. campestris Linn. 'Rugosa' = orme d'Avignon ['''Avignon elm'''] (new species)", but without description.[1] A description followed in the Revue horticole, 1829.[2] Green (1964)[3] identified this cultivar with one listed by Hartwig and Rümpler in Illustrirtes Gehölzbuch (1875) as Ulmus montana var. rugosa Hort..[4] [5] A cultivar of the same name appeared in Loddiges' catalogue of 1836 and was identified by Loudon in Arboretum et Fruticetum Britannicum (1838) as Ulmus montana var. rugosa Masters,[6] Masters naming the tree maple-bark elm.[7] Ulmus montana was used at the time both for wych cultivars and for some cultivars of the Ulmus × hollandica group.[8]
Not to be confused with Späth's U. campestris rugosa, a suberose field elm.
Revue Horticole (1829) described "l'orme d'Avignon" as a tall tree with downy buds producing large wrinkled leaves, elliptical in shape and tapering at both ends, with deeply double-toothed margins.[2] Loudon described his Ulmus montana var. rugosa as having "dark, reddish-brown bark, cracking into short, regular pieces, very like Acer campestre; a tree of spreading growth and moderate size". Hanham's Manual for Royal Victoria Park, Bath (1857) described the U. montana rugosa in that collection as "a spreading and moderate-sized tree, with rather irregular and contorted branches", its wrinkled leaves being "much smaller and rougher than the species and a deeper green".[9] Koch (1872) described Loddiges' Ulmus montana rugosa, "now cultivated under this name in the gardens and nurseries", as an elm "with elongated, thickish, deep-toothed leaves and with soft-haired young twigs". Though he had not seen its samarae, he was confident that it was "a very different elm" from the field elm 'Rugosa' cultivar.[10] Noting similarities between Ulmus montana rugosa and Ulmus crispa Willdenow, he conjectured that Ulmus montana rugosa, which has "similar but less frizzy leaves", may have arisen from Ulmus crispa.[11] The 'Rugosa' of Hartwig and Rümpler was described as having somewhat folded leaves, and being pyramidal, thick and bushy.[3]
Not known.
Loudon considered a tree labelled U. montana rugosa in the London Horticultural Society's Garden, with upright form and smaller, rougher leaves of a deeper green than those of wych elm, "probably not the U. montana rugosa of Mr. Masters". A specimen of U. montana rugosa, "the rugose Scotch elm", was among elms described at Royal Victoria Park, Bath, in the 1850s.[12] The Hesse Nursery of Weener, Germany, sold an Ulmus montana rugosa in the 1930s.[13]
An Ulmus montana var. rugosa pendula was distributed by the Mount Hope Nursery (also known as Ellwanger and Barry) of Rochester, New York, from the 1880s.[14] As Ulmus montana was used both for wych cultivars and for those of U. × hollandica, the cultivar named U. × hollandica 'Rugosa Pendula' (though not notably pendulous) growing at the Morton Arboretum (Acc. no. 652-62), received from Arnold Arboretum as Ulmus hollandica 'Rugosa Pendula',[15] [16] is likely to be the Ellwanger and Barry clone. It has leaves to 15 cm (see Gallery).[17] [18]