Cultivar 'Pitteurs' | Origin Belgium | |
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Similar Ulmus 'Pyramidalis', Ulmus 'Nana', Ulmus minor 'Purpurascens', Ulmus minor 'Propendens', Ulmus minor 'Schuurhoek' | ||
Ulmus 'Pitteurs' is probably one of a number of elm cultivars arising from the crossing of the Wych Elm Ulmus glabra with a variety of Field Elm Ulmus minor. The tree was first identified by Morren as l'orme Pitteurs.
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Description
'Pitteurs' was a tall tree, chiefly distinguished by its huge, rounded, convex leaves, < 20 cm long by < 19 cm broad, a little attenuate at the apex and with prominent venation.
Cultivation
Reputedly one of two varieties obtained in 1845 by Henri Bonaventure Trudon de Pitteurs of Sint-Truiden, near Liege, Belgium, the tree was planted on his estate and along roadsides in the region. Augustine Henry thought the tree, which produced shoots growing almost one metre a year, identical with those he saw at Looymans' nursery at Oudenbosch, which he considered identical to a variety of Wych Elm occasionally sold as var. macrophylla.
In 1998 an unsuccessful search of the de Pitteurs-Hiegaerts Estate (now in the public domain and known as the Speelhof park) was mounted in an attempt to rediscover the elm. It is assumed the cultivar fell victim to Dutch elm disease, as did thousands of other elms in the same district. However, 'Pitteurs' was known to have been marketed (as U. montana 'Pitteursi') in Poland in the 19th century by the Ulrich nursery, Warsaw, and so may still survive in Eastern Europe. Several trees were thought to survive near Brighton, England; the only confirmed specimen, however, at the Extra Mural Cemetery in Brighton, was blown down in the Great Storm of 1987. 'Pitteurs' is not known to have been introduced to North America or Australasia.
Accessions
None known.
Hybrid cultivars
'Pitteurs' was crossed with Ulmus × hollandica in the Dutch elm breeding programme before World War II, but none of the progeny were retained.