Ulmus minor 'Viminalis Marginata'


The Field Elm cultivar Ulmus minor 'Viminalis Marginata', a variegated form of Ulmus minor 'Viminalis', was first listed as Ulmus campestris var. viminalis marginata Hort. by Kirchner in 1864. Both Van Houtte and Späth marketed an U. campestris viminalis marginata in the late 19th century.
Nursery, arboretum, and herbarium specimens confirm that the cultivar U. minor 'Viminalis Variegata' was sometimes regarded as synonymous with 'Viminalis Marginata'.

Description

'Marginata' is distinguished by its leaves which have mottled grey and white margins.

Pests and diseases

The tree is very susceptible to Dutch elm disease.

Cultivation

'Marginata' appeared in various late 19th- and early 20th-century European nursery lists and collections. The tree was distributed in Victoria, Australia, from the 1880s. A specimen stands in Adelaide Botanic Garden, Australia.
Herbarium specimens show that three trees supplied by the Späth nursery of Berlin to the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh in 1902 as U. campestris viminalis marginata were the clone now called 'Pulverulenta' or 'Variegata'. The Ulmus campestris viminalis marginata supplied by Späth and planted in 1897 at the Dominion Arboretum, Ottawa, Canada, and a tree from Späth planted under that name in 1913 in the Ryston Hall arboretum, Norfolk, UK, in the early 20th century, may also have been 'Pulverulenta' or 'Variegata'.

Synonymy

Australasia