Japanese Elm
Encyclopedia
Ulmus davidiana var. japonica, the Japanese Elm, is one of the larger and more graceful Asiatic elms, endemic to much of continental north-east Asia
Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...

 and Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

.

Description

The size and shape of trees of this variety are variable, ranging from short trees bearing densely branched broad crowns to tall, single-stemmed trees with narrow crowns . Augustine Henry
Augustine Henry
Augustine Henry was an Irish plantsman and sinologist. He is best known for sending over 15,000 dry specimens and seeds and 500 plant samples to Kew Gardens in the United Kingdom. By 1930, he was a recognised authority and was honoured with society membership in Belgium, Czechoslovakia, Finland,...

 described one of the latter outside Iwamigawa, Hokkaido
Hokkaido
, formerly known as Ezo, Yezo, Yeso, or Yesso, is Japan's second largest island; it is also the largest and northernmost of Japan's 47 prefectural-level subdivisions. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaido from Honshu, although the two islands are connected by the underwater railway Seikan Tunnel...

, railway station as being 34 m tall, with a clean stem to a height of approximately 15 m . The young shoots often bear corky wings, similar to those of the European Field Elm
Field Elm
Ulmus minor Mill., the Field Elm, is by far the most polymorphic of the European species, although its taxonomy remains a matter of contention. Its natural range is predominantly south European, extending to Asia Minor; its northern outposts are the Baltic islands of Öland and Gotland, although it...

 U. minor, to which it is closely related. The leaves are generally obovate
Leaf shape
In botany, leaf shape is characterised with the following terms :* Acicular : Slender and pointed, needle-like* Acuminate : Tapering to a long point...

, < 11 cm long, and with a coarse upper surface. The perfect, apetalous wind-pollinated flowers emerge in early spring, before the leaves. The samara
Samara (fruit)
A samara is a type of fruit in which a flattened wing of fibrous, papery tissue develops from the ovary wall. A samara is a simple dry fruit and indehiscent . It is a winged achene...

, <15 mm long, is obovate to orbicular, occasionally hairy over its entire surface but more often glabrous .

Ecology

In its natural habitat, this elm variety is most commonly found growing in swamp forest on young alluvial soils, although much of this habitat has now been lost to intensive rice cultivation .

Pests and diseases

Natural populations of Japanese Elm have a low to moderate resistance to Dutch elm disease
Dutch elm disease
Dutch elm disease is a disease caused by a member of the sac fungi category, affecting elm trees which is spread by the elm bark beetle. Although believed to be originally native to Asia, the disease has been accidentally introduced into America and Europe, where it has devastated native...

. In trials in the Netherlands, susceptibility to disease was found to be commensurate with rate of growth, the more vigorous specimens exhibiting far more foliar damage after inoculation with the causal fungus . Careful selection in North America has produced a number of cultivars highly resistant to disease (see Hybrids, hybrid cultivars and cultivars below). The tree is resistant to the Elm Leaf Beetle Xanthogaleruca luteola
Xanthogaleruca luteola
Xanthogaleruca luteola, commonly known as the Elm Leaf Beetle, is a serious pest of the elm. Indigenous to Europe, it was accidentally introduced to North America. Both the imagines and larvae feed on the emergent leaves of the elm...

http://www.sunshinenursery.com/survey.htm but is moderately susceptible to Elm Yellows
Elm Yellows
Elm Yellows is a plant disease of elm trees that is spread by leafhoppers or by root grafts. Elm Yellows, also known as Elm Phloem Necrosis, is very aggressive, with no known cure. Elm Yellows occurs in the Eastern United States and southern Ontario in Canada. It is caused by phytoplasmas which...

 .

Cultivation

Japanese Elm has been widely planted in northern Japan as a street tree. It was introduced to North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...

 in 1895 as seed sent from Sapporo to the Arnold Arboretum, Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...

, whence seedlings were donated to Kew Gardens, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

, two years later . The Arnold Arboretum specimens grew rapidly, and first flowered aged 12 years. Unlike many Asiatic species, Japanese Elm is tolerant of a mild, maritime climate with heavy winter rainfall and was consequently considered of potential use in the Dutch elm breeding programme led by H. M. Heybroek
Hans M. Heybroek
Hans M. Heybroek is a Dutch botanist best known for his researches into the genus Ulmus at the Dorschkamp Research Institute for Forestry & Landscape Planning. Until his retirement in 1992, he was responsible for the raising and release of numerous elm hybrid cultivars, notably 'Columella'...

 at the Dorschkamp Research Institute at Wageningen
Wageningen
' is a municipality and a historical town in the central Netherlands, in the province of Gelderland. It is famous for Wageningen University, which specializes in life sciences. The city has 37,414 inhabitants , of which many thousands are students...

 . In 1977, Heybroek collected the tree in Japan, with the result that there is now a small forest of Japanese Elm in southern Flevoland
Flevoland
Flevoland is a province of the Netherlands. Located in the centre of the country, at the location of the former Zuiderzee, the province was established on January 1, 1986; the twelfth province of the country, with Lelystad as its capital...

, the largest plantation of the species beyond its native land.

Specimens planted at the Sir Harold Hillier Gardens
Sir Harold Hillier Gardens
The Sir Harold Hillier Gardens is an arboretum comprising 72 hectares accommodating over 42,000 trees and shrubs in about 12,000 taxa, notably a collection of oaks, camellia, magnolia and rhododendron....

 in Hampshire
Hampshire
Hampshire is a county on the southern coast of England in the United Kingdom. The county town of Hampshire is Winchester, a historic cathedral city that was once the capital of England. Hampshire is notable for housing the original birthplaces of the Royal Navy, British Army, and Royal Air Force...

, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

, in 1977 have grown very well on heavy clay in an open location, where they support colonies of the White-letter Hairstreak Satyrium w-album. In trials elsewhere in Hampshire conducted by Butterfly Conservation
Butterfly Conservation
Butterfly Conservation is an insect conservation organisation in the United Kingdom. It is one of the largest insect conservation organisations in the world.-History of the Organisation:...

, the tree also proved tolerant of dry soils on chalk and soils waterlogged in winter, although growth has been comparatively slow .

The species is not known to sucker from roots.

Hybrids, cultivars, and hybrid cultivars

Ulmus × mesocarpa
Ulmus × mesocarpa
The natural hybrid elm Ulmus × mesocarpa M. Kim & S. Lee is a cross of Ulmus macrocarpa with Japanese Elm Ulmus davidiana var. japonica discovered on Seoraksan near the city of Sokcho on the eastern coast of South Korea. The tree is endemic to the provinces of Gangwon-do, Injegun, Bukmyeon,...

, a natural hybrid of U. davidiana var. japonica and Ulmus macrocarpa was discovered in South Korea
South Korea
The Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...

 in the 1980s .

The Japanese Elm was widely used in the USA in hybridization experiments at the Morton Arboretum and University of Wisconsin , resulting in the release of the following cultivars: Cathedral, Morton (Accolade), Morton Glossy (Triumph), Morton Plainsman (Vanguard), Morton Red Tip (Danada Charm), Morton Stalwart (Commendation), New Horizon
New Horizon (elm hybrid)
An American cultivar raised by the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation , New Horizon was derived from a crossing of Siberian Elm Ulmus pumila with Japanese Elm Ulmus davidiana var...

, Patriot, Rebona, Repura, Revera, and Sapporo Autumn Gold
Sapporo Autumn Gold (elm hybrid)
Sapporo Autumn Gold is one of the most successful hybrid elm cultivars ever marketed, widely planted across North America and western Europe, although it has now been largely supplanted by more recent introductions. Arising from a chance crossing in 1958 of the Siberian Elm Ulmus pumila and the...

.

The species has also been crossed with Dutch hybrids by the Istituto per la Protezione delle Piante (IPP) in Florence
Florence
Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with approximately 370,000 inhabitants, expanding to over 1.5 million in the metropolitan area....

, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

. Three clones are currently (2008) under evaluation in Italy, and England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 (by Butterfly Conservation
Butterfly Conservation
Butterfly Conservation is an insect conservation organisation in the United Kingdom. It is one of the largest insect conservation organisations in the world.-History of the Organisation:...

): FL 601, FL 610 and FL 626.

The tree was assessed in Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 as a substitute for native elms which had succumbed to Dutch elm disease. A number of particularly hardy cultivars were released there in the 1980s; three cultivars were also raised in the USAhttp://fletcher.ces.state.nc.us/programs/nursery/metria/metria11/warren/elm.htm: Discovery, Emerald Sunshine (formerly treated under U. propinqua Koidz.),
Freedom, Jacan, Mitsui Centennial, Prospector (formerly treated under Wilson's Elm U. wilsoniana C.K. Schneid.), Reseda
Ulmus 'Reseda'
Ulmus davidiana var. japonica Reseda is an American cultivar raised by the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation as clone no. 43-8. 'Reseda' was grown from seed sent from Hokkaido, Japan, in the late 1950s .-Cultivation:...

, and Thomson . However, most of the Canadian clones have now been withdrawn from commerce owing to the Canadian government's restrictions on the movement of elm within the country, adopted to prevent the spread of Dutch elm disease.

Accessions

North America
  • Arnold Arboretum. Acc. nos. 4119 (from cult. material), 917-78, wild collected in Korea.
  • Brenton Arboretum
    Brenton Arboretum
    The Brenton Arboretum 121 acres is a new arboretum and botanical garden in early stages of development, located at 2629 Palo Circle, Dallas Center, Iowa, USA. The Arboretum aims to display all Iowa native trees and shrubs suitable to the site, as well as many other tree species which can grow in...

    , Dallas Center, Iowa
    Iowa
    Iowa is a state located in the Midwestern United States, an area often referred to as the "American Heartland". It derives its name from the Ioway people, one of the many American Indian tribes that occupied the state at the time of European exploration. Iowa was a part of the French colony of New...

    . Listed as U. wilsoniana; no details available.
  • Brooklyn Botanic Garden
    Brooklyn Botanic Garden
    Brooklyn Botanic Garden is a botanical garden in the borough of Brooklyn in New York City. Located near the Prospect Heights, Crown Heights, and Park Slope neighborhoods, the garden includes a number of specialty "gardens within the Garden," plant collections, and the Steinhardt Conservatory,...

     http://www.bbg.org/cgi/bgbase/search.cgi, New York
    New York
    New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

    . Acc. no. 780251 (listed as U. japonica).
  • Chicago Botanic Garden
    Chicago Botanic Garden
    Located at 1000 Lake Cook Road, Glencoe, Illinois, USA, the Chicago Botanic Garden is a living plant museum situated on nine islands featuring 24 display gardens and surrounded by four natural habitats: McDonald Woods, Dixon Prairie, Skokie River Corridor, and Lakes and Shores. The Garden is open...

    , Glencoe
    Glencoe, Illinois
    Glencoe is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States. As of the 2010 census, the village population was 8,723. Glencoe is located on suburban Chicago's North Shore. Glencoe is located within the New Trier High School District. Glencoe is regarded as one of the most affluent suburbs on...

    , Illinois
    Illinois
    Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...

    . 1 tree in the West Collections Area, listed as U. propinqua var. suberosa.
  • Dawes Arboretum
    Dawes Arboretum
    The Dawes Arboretum is a non-profit arboretum located outside of Columbus in Newark, Ohio. As one of the premier public gardens in North America, The Dawes Arboretum has over of plant collections, gardens and natural areas...

     http://www.dawesarb.org/collectionsgardens/plant-search.asp, Newark
    Newark, Ohio
    In addition, the remains of a road leading south from the Octagon have been documented and explored. It was first surveyed in the 19th century, when its walls were more apparent. Called the Great Hopewell Road, it may extend to the Hopewell complex at Chillicothe, Ohio...

    , Ohio
    Ohio
    Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...

    . 1 tree, no acc. details available.
  • Holden Arboretum
    Holden Arboretum
    The Holden Arboretum, in Kirtland, Ohio, USA, is one of the largest arboretums and botanical gardens in the United States, with over 3,500 acres , 600 acres of which are devoted to collections and gardens. Diverse natural areas and ecologically sensitive habitats make up the rest of the holdings...

    . Acc. nos. 80-664 (unrecorded provenance), 97-126, wild collected in Korea.
  • Morton Arboretum
    Morton Arboretum
    The Morton Arboretum, in Lisle, Illinois, covers 1,700 acres and is made up of gardens of various plant types and collections of trees from specific taxonomical and geographical areas. It includes native woodlands and a restored Illinois prairie. The Arboretum has over 4,100 different species of...

    . Acc. nos. 514-39, 679-62, 680-62, 354-U, also two others under the synonyms of U. propinqua Koidz. or Cork Bark Elm (acc. no. 53-96), and U. propinqua Koidz. var. suberosa, collected from the Nei Mongol Zizhiqu Autonomus Region, China, (acc. no. 52-95).
  • U S National Arboretum
    United States National Arboretum
    The United States National Arboretum is an arboretum in Washington, D.C., operated by the United States Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Research Service as a division of the Henry A. Wallace Beltsville Agricultural Research Center...

     http://www.usna.usda.gov/index.htm, Washington, D.C.
    Washington, D.C.
    Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....

    , USA. Acc. no. 68998. Also (listed under synonym U. japonica): 76253, 76254, 76227, and (listed under syn. U. propinqua): 76249, 68985, and (listed under U. propinqua var. suberosa): 76234, 76244, 76241.


Europe
  • Brighton & Hove
    Brighton & Hove
    Brighton and Hove is a unitary authority area and city on the south coast of England. It is England's most populous seaside resort.In 1997 Brighton and Hove were joined to form the unitary authority of Brighton and Hove, which was granted city status by Queen Elizabeth II as part of the millennium...

     City Council, UK, NCCPG elm collection http://www.brighton-hove.gov.uk/index.cfm?request=c1254274
  • Grange Farm Arboretum
    Grange Farm Arboretum
    The Grange Farm Arboretum is a small private arboretum comprising 3 hectares accommodating over 800 trees, mostly native and ornamental species or cultivars, notably oaks, ashes, walnuts and elms, growing on a calcareous loam....

    , Sutton St James
    Sutton St James
    Sutton St James is a village and civil parish in the South Holland district of Lincolnshire, England, about south west of Long Sutton.Lying in the Lincolnshire Fens, Sutton St James did not exist at the time of Domesday Book of 1086...

    , Spalding
    Spalding, Lincolnshire
    Spalding is a market town with a population of 30,000 on the River Welland in the South Holland district of Lincolnshire, England. Little London is a hamlet directly south of Spalding on the B1172 road....

    , Lincolnshire
    Lincolnshire
    Lincolnshire is a county in the east of England. It borders Norfolk to the south east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south west, Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire to the west, South Yorkshire to the north west, and the East Riding of Yorkshire to the north. It also borders...

    , UK. Listed as Ulmus japonica; acc. no. 514
  • Great Fontley Farm, Fareham
    Fareham
    The market town of Fareham lies in the south east of Hampshire, England, between the cities of Southampton and Portsmouth, roughly in the centre of the South Hampshire conurbation.It gives its name to the borough comprising the town and the surrounding area...

    , UK, Butterfly Conservation
    Butterfly Conservation
    Butterfly Conservation is an insect conservation organisation in the United Kingdom. It is one of the largest insect conservation organisations in the world.-History of the Organisation:...

    Elm Trials plantation, Home Field J6, (planted 2002, grown from seed collected from the Great Elm, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan).
  • Hortus Botanicus Nationalis, Salaspils
    Salaspils
    Salaspils is a town in Latvia, the administrative centre of Salaspils municipality. The town is situated on the northern bank of the Daugava River 18 kilometers to the south-east of the city of Riga.-History:...

    , Latvia
    Latvia
    Latvia , officially the Republic of Latvia , is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by Estonia , to the south by Lithuania , to the east by the Russian Federation , to the southeast by Belarus and shares maritime borders to the west with Sweden...

    . Acc. nos. 18128,29,30,31.
  • Linnaean Gardens of Uppsala
    Linnaean Garden
    The Linnaean Garden or Linnaeus' Garden is the oldest of the botanical gardens belonging to Uppsala University in Sweden. It has been restored and is kept as an 18th century botanical garden, according to the specifications of Carolus Linnaeus.The garden was originally planned and planted by Olaus...

    , Sweden
    Sweden
    Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

    , (as U. japonica). Acc. no. 1998-1284, obtained from the Russian Federation.
  • Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh
    Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh
    The Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh is a scientific centre for the study of plants, their diversity and conservation, as well as a popular tourist attraction. Originally founded in 1670 as a physic garden to grow medicinal plants, today it occupies four sites across Scotland — Edinburgh,...

    , UK. Listed as U. japonica, acc. no. 19031053.
  • Royal Botanic Garden Kew
    Kew
    Kew is a place in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames in South West London. Kew is best known for being the location of the Royal Botanic Gardens, now a World Heritage Site, which includes Kew Palace...

    , UK. Acc. nos. 1995-581, 1995-1305
  • Royal Horticultural Society
    Royal Horticultural Society
    The Royal Horticultural Society was founded in 1804 in London, England as the Horticultural Society of London, and gained its present name in a Royal Charter granted in 1861 by Prince Albert...

     Gardens, Wisley
    Wisley
    Wisley is a small village in Surrey, England. It lies between Cobham and Woking. It is the home of the Royal Horticultural Society's Wisley Garden. The River Wey runs through the village....

    . Listed as U. japonica, no details available.
  • Sir Harold Hillier Gardens
    Sir Harold Hillier Gardens
    The Sir Harold Hillier Gardens is an arboretum comprising 72 hectares accommodating over 42,000 trees and shrubs in about 12,000 taxa, notably a collection of oaks, camellia, magnolia and rhododendron....

    , UK. Listed as U. japonica, acc. nos. 1977.5234, 1977.5972, 1977.6373, 1982.4019, all trees 12 m - 14 m high.
  • Tallinn
    Tallinn
    Tallinn is the capital and largest city of Estonia. It occupies an area of with a population of 414,940. It is situated on the northern coast of the country, on the banks of the Gulf of Finland, south of Helsinki, east of Stockholm and west of Saint Petersburg. Tallinn's Old Town is in the list...

     Botanic Garden, Estonia
    Estonia
    Estonia , officially the Republic of Estonia , is a state in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea, to the south by Latvia , and to the east by Lake Peipsi and the Russian Federation . Across the Baltic Sea lies...

     http://www.tba.ee/index.php?lang=eng. Listed as U. japonica, no accession details available.
  • Thenford
    Thenford
    Thenford is a village and civil parish about northwest of the market town of Brackley in South Northamptonshire and east of Banbury in nearby Oxfordshire.Thenford's toponym is derived from the Old English for "Ford of the Thegns"....

     House arboretum, Oxfordshire, UK, no details available.

Nurseries

North America
Europe
  • Arboretum Waasland http://www.arboretum-waasland.be/English.htm, Nieuwkerken-Waas, Belgium
    Belgium
    Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...


External links

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