Cultivar 'Koopmannii' | Origin Turkestan | |
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The elm cultivar Ulmus 'Koopmannii' was cloned from a specimen raised from seed sent from Margilan, Turkestan (now in eastern Uzbekistan) by Koopmann to the Botanischer Garten Berlin [1] c. 1880. Noted in 1881 as a 'new elm', it was later listed by the Späth nursery (Berlin, Germany), catalogue no. 62, p. 6. 101, 1885, as Ulmus Koopmannii, and later by Krüssmann in Handbuch der Laubgehölze 2: 534, 1962, as a cultivar. Margilan being beyond the main range of Ulmus minor, Augustine Henry, who saw the specimens in Berlin and Kew, believed Koopmann's Elm to be a form of Ulmus pumila (Siberian elm), and the tree is treated in some north Eurasian treatises as a cultivar of the Siberian Elm. Until DNA analysis can confirm its origin, the cultivar is now treated as Ulmus 'Koopmannii'.
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Description
The tree is said to resemble Ulmus minor 'Umbraculifera' in form, though more globose in outline, with a dense, narrowish oval crown, a height to 35 feet (11 m), and small, ovate leaves < 30 mm in length.
Cultivation
'Koopmannii' was traditionally grown in cemeteries in Turkestan, where it occasionally reached a great size. It was marketed in Europe by Späth, and was represented by a tree in the Berlin Botanical Garden. One tree was planted in 1897 as U. campestris Koopmannii at the Dominion Arboretum, Ottowa, Canada. A specimen was once grown at Kew Gardens, where it performed rather poorly. Specimens supplied by Späth to the RBGE in 1902 as U. campestris 'Koopmannii' may survive in Edinburgh as it was the practice of the Garden to distribute trees about the city (viz. the Wentworth Elm); the current list of Living Accessions held in the Garden per se does not list the plant.