Ulmus minor 'Rueppellii' explained

Ulmus minor 'Rueppellii'
Species: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, and in subsequent catalogues, as Ulmus campestris Rueppelli, and later by Krüssmann[4] as a cultivar.[5]

Description

'Rueppellii' was a pyramidal tree with a single stem and numerous ascending branches forming a globose or ovoid crown, much like 'Umbraculifera'.[6] The branches are slightly corky, and the branchlets pubescent, bearing small leaves similar to those of the Cornish Elm, measuring NaNcm (-2,147,483,648inches) long by NaNcm (-2,147,483,648inches) wide,[7] the surface likened to that of the wych elm U. glabra.[8]

Pests and diseases

Most U. minor cultivars are susceptible to Dutch elm disease, but, if not grafted, can survive through root-sucker regrowth. Specimens planted in Poland suffered from European elm scale.[9]

Cultivation

No specimens are known to survive. 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] Two specimens were grown at Kew Gardens before the First World War, obtained from the Barbier nursery, France.[12] A specimen obtained from Späth before 1914, and planted in that year, stood in the Ryston Hall arboretum, Norfolk,[13] in the early 20th century.[14] 'Rueppelli' was used in urban plantings in Bydgoszcz, Poland, in the 1920s.[9] It was marketed by the Hesse Nursery of Weener, Germany, and by Dahs, Reuter & Co. of Cologne, in the 1930s.[15] [16]

In North America, one tree was planted as U. campestris 'Rueppelli' in 1897 at the Dominion Arboretum, Ottawa, Canada.[17] In the US, Ulmus Rueppelli, 'Rueppell's English Elm' (an error probably arising from the equating of U. campestris with English Elm), a "handsome compact form, growing perfectly symmetrical without pruning", appeared in the 1902 catalogue of the Bobbink and Atkins nursery, Rutherford, New Jersey.[18]

Putative specimens

In Edinburgh, an unidentified suckering Field Elm cultivar found in Links Place, Leith Links (2016), matches the description, leaf-drawing and herbarium specimen of 'Rueppellii',[19] and may be one of Späth's three. Similar elms also appear in old photographs of Tashkent.[20] [21]

Etymology

Uncertain; the tree is probably 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.[8]

Accessions

None known.

Notes and References

  1. Book: Späth. Ludwig. Späth-Buch, 1720-1930. 1930. Self published. Berlin. 311–313, 351–352.
  2. Krüssman, Gerd, Manual of Cultivated Broad-Leaved Trees & Shrubs (1984 vol. 3)
  3. 1881. Zwei neue Ulmen. Hamburger Garten-und Blumenzeitung. 37. 85.
  4. http://kiki.huh.harvard.edu/databases/botanist_search.php?id=67644 kiki.huh.harvard.edu
  5. Book: Krüssmann, Johann Gerd. Handbuch der Laubgehölze. 2. 535. 1962.
  6. Green . Peter Shaw . Peter Shaw Green . 1964 . Registration of cultivar names in Ulmus. Arnoldia . 24. 41–80 . 6–8 . . 16 February 2017.
  7. Sheet labelled U. carpinifolia Gled. cv. 'Rueppellii' (Belder Arboretum specimen from Späth, 1953, with tree sketch); Sheet labelled U. carpinifolia formerly 'Rupelli' (Belmonte Arboretum, Wageningen, specimen 1, 1962); Sheet labelled U. carpinifolia formerly 'Rupelli' (Belmonte Arboretum, Wageningen, specimen 2, 1962); Sheet labelled U. campestris var. Rupelli (1910); Sheet labelled U. procera Salisb. f. Ruepelii (Lauche) (1932); Sheet labelled U. campestris var. Rupelli (1902)
  8. Book: Ascherson. Paul. Graebner. Paul. 1913. Synopsis der mitteleuropäischen Flora. 4. 566. 16 February 2017.
  9. Book: Państwowy instytut naukowo-rolniczy. Prace. 13 June 2017. 1-12. 1926. Pánstwowy instytut naukowo-rolniczy. Wydzial chorób róslin. Bydgoszcz (Bromberg) Poland. 42.
  10. Book: 1902. Accessions book. Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh. 45, 47.
  11. Web site: List of Living Accessions: Ulmus. Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh. 21 September 2016.
  12. Book: Elwes. Henry John. Henry John Elwes. Henry. Augustine. Augustine Henry. 1913. The Trees of Great Britain & Ireland. 7. 1893. Republished 2004 Cambridge University Press,
  13. http://www.rystonhall.co.uk/ rystonhall.co.uk/
  14. Book: Ryston Hall Arboretum catalogue . c. 1920 . 13–14.
  15. Book: Hesse. Hermann Albert. Preis- und Sortenliste. 1932. 96–97. 18 January 2018.
  16. https://archive.org/details/Dahs-Reuter-1930/page/128/mode/2up Photograph of young 'Rueppellii', Dahs, Reuter & Co., Cologne; List of varieties 1930, p.128
  17. Book: Saunders. William. Macoun. William Tyrrell. Catalogue of the trees and shrubs in the arboretum and botanic gardens at the central experimental farm. 1899. 2. 74–75.
  18. Book: 1902 . Bobbink and Atkins, Rutherford. N.J.. 51.
  19. http://bioportal.naturalis.nl/nba/result?nba_request=http%253A%252F%252Fapi.biodiversitydata.nl%252Fv0%252F%252Fmultimedia%252Fget-multimedia-object-for-specimen-within-result-set%252F%253FunitID%253DWAG.1847045_01586981384&noMap bioportal.naturalis.nl
  20. Web site: Русский Ташкент. Tashkent elms: Russian Tashkent. 2017-02-09. ru .
  21. Web site: Ташкент на старых фотографиях.. Tashkent elms:Tashkent in old photographs. 2017-02-09. ru .