Cultivar 'Cornuta' | Origin Europe | |
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Similar Ulmus minor 'Purpurascens', Ulmus minor 'Propendens', Ulmus minor 'Schuurhoek', Ulmus pumila 'Drop', Ulmus pumila 'Poort Bul | ||
The Wych Elm cultivar Ulmus glabra 'Cornuta', in cultivation before 1845, is a little-known tree, finally identified as a cultivar of U. glabra by Boom [2] in Nederlandse Dendrologie 1: 157, 1959.
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The cultivar 'Triserrata', usually considered a synonym of 'Cornuta', was first described by Kirchner[3] in Petzold[4] and Kirchner (1864) as U. triserrata Hort.. It was distributed by the Späth nursery, Berlin, in the late 1890s and early 1900s as U. montana triserrata Kirch..
Description
'Cornuta' is distinguished only by the one or two cusp-like lobes either side of the apex of the leaf on strong-growing shoots, similar to Ulmus laciniata. Short-shoot leaves lack the cusps.
U. triserrata Hort. (syn. U. intermedia Hort.) was described in Petzold and Kirchner as "very similar to U. montana, but the leaves appear to be firmer, a little shorter, and widened towards the tip. The tip is very sharp-pointed, likewise the two large teeth, one on each side, in consequence of which the leaf appears tricuspidate. A form similar in appearance but less pronounced occurs in U. montana." Späth catalogues describe the leaf of U. montana triserrata as "usually three-pointed", but herbarium leaf-specimens in the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh from Späth's specimens show a non-cuspidate leaf with a triserrate (triple-toothed) margin (see External links below).
Pests and diseases
A cultivar of the Wych Elm, 'Cornuta' is susceptible to Dutch Elm disease. A specimen at the Ryston Hall [5], Norfolk, arboretum, obtained from the Späth nursery (as U. triserrata) before 1914, was killed by the earlier strain of Dutch elm disease prevalent in the 1930s.
Cultivation
'Cornuta' is now very rare in cultivation. Although introduced to North America, there is no record of its introduction to Australasia. One tree, possibly 'Cornuta', was planted in 1897 as U. montana laciniata syn. U. montana triserrata at the Dominion Arboretum, Ottowa, Canada. Three specimens supplied by Späth to the RBGE in 1902 as U. montana triserrata 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.
Notable trees
A very large tree survives at Meise, in Belgium; measured in 2002, it had attained a height of 35 m, and a d.b.h. of @ 1.2 m. Another survives along a canal in Amsterdam. Three heavily pruned trees, closely planted and now fused together as one stand behind the Centraal Museum in Utrecht, Netherlands.