Cultivar 'Karagatch' | Origin Kazakhstan | |
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Hybrid parentage U. pumila × U. × androssowii? People also search for Ulmus pumila 'Ansaloni' | ||
Ulmus 'Karagatch' is a hybrid cultivar from Turkestan (from a region now part of Turkmenistan), selected in the early 20th century and considered either a backcrossing of U. × androssowii and U. pumila, or simply a cultivar of × androssowii. It was grown from seeds, introduced from Bairam Ali in Russian Turkestan by Arthur P. Davis in the 1930s, as U. 'Karagatch', under which name it was planted at Kew.
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Description
The Kew specimen (mature by the 1990s but felled in 2015 as 'unsafe') had the appearance of a northern European field elm, more tall than broad. 'Karagatch' was described by the US Department of Agriculture (1917) as a "rapid-growing elm", suitable for semi-arid regions, with harder wood than that of American Elm.
Pests and diseases
No information available.
Etymology
The name 'karagatch' (:'black tree' in the Turkic languages, widely used for 'elm') has historically also been applied to U. minor 'Umbraculifera' (syn. U. densa) from the same region [1], and more loosely to field elm found in Turkey and to U. pumila found in Mongolia.