Higher classification Ulmus minor 'Plotii' | Rank Cultivar | |
Hybrid parentage U. minor × U. minor 'Plotii' | ||
Ulmus × viminalis 'Betulaefolia' (:'birch-leaved') is a hybrid cultivar believed to be derived from the crossing U. minor × U. minor 'Plotii'. It was listed by Loddiges of Hackney, London, in the catalogue of 1836, and later by Loudon in Arboretum et Fruticetum Britannicum (1838), as U. campestris var. betulaefolia. Melville considered the tree so named at Kew a form of U. × viminalis. Loudon and Browne had noted that some forms of U. × viminalis can be mistaken for a variety of birch.
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Henry (1913) described an U. nitens var. betulaefolia, a cultivar with long, narrow un-birchlike leaves, a specimen of which from Audley End, Suffolk, is preserved at Kew (see External links below). Henry did not include this cultivar among forms of U. × viminalis, but both he and Green took it to be a synonym of Loudon's 'Betulaefolia'. Melville determined this tree a triple hybrid, U. carpinifolia gled. × U. plotii Druce × U. glabra Huds..
Description
Loudon's U. campestris var. betulaefolia was distinguished by its leaves "somewhat resembling common birch".
Henry's U. nitens var. betulaefolia was "a pyramidal tree with ascending branches, with leaves up to 4 in. by 1.5 in., long-acuminate at the apex and narrowing towards a cuneate but unequal base".
Pests and diseases
Trees of the U. × viminalis group are very susceptible to Dutch elm disease.
Cultivation
No specimens of U. × viminalis labelled 'Betulaefolia' are known to survive.