The Field Elm cultivar Ulmus minor 'Microphylla Pendula', the Weeping small-leaved elm,Ellwanger & Barry, Descriptive Catalogue of Hardy Ornamental Trees ... at the Mount Hope Nurseries (Rochester, N.Y., 1875) was first listed by the Travemünde nursery, Lübeck, and described by Kirchnerkiki.huh.harvard.edu in Petzoldkiki.huh.harvard.edu & Kirchner's Arboretum Muscaviense (1864), as Ulmus microphylla pendula Hort.. By the 1870s it was being marketed in nurseries in Europe and America as Ulmus campestris var. microphylla pendula.
Not to be confused with Schneider's suberose cultivar 'Propendens'. Kew's U. campestris var. microphylla pendula (1896 Hand List) was equated with 'Propendens' by Henry (1913), who called it "a form of Ulmus nitens var. suberosa", and by Rehder (1949), and was classed by Melville as a nothomorph of 'Sarniensis'.Melville, R. (1978). On the discrimination of species in hybrid swarms with special reference to Ulmus and the nomenclature of U. minor (Mill.) and U. carpinifolia (Gled.). Taxon 27: 345-351. bioportal.naturalis.nl, specimenL.1582570
Description Kirchner described 'Microphylla Pendula' as an elm of graceful habit with nettle-like foliage similar to but distinct from U. antarctica, the leaves being smaller and a lighter green, with pale smooth twigs and long pendulous branchlets. Cultivated as Ulmus nitens microphylla pendula (Kew specimen, 1938)
Pests and diseases Most field elm clones are susceptible to Dutch elm disease.
Cultivation One specimen survives at the RBG Wakehurst Place, England, where it is cultivated as a hedging plant to keep it free from the attentions of the Scolytus beetles which act as vectors of Dutch elm disease.
'Microphylla Pendula', distinguished from 'Propendens', was present in The Hague in the 1930s.Christine Buisman, 'Verslag van de onderzoekingen over de iepenziekte, verricht in het phytopathologisch laboratorium Willie Commelin scholten te Baarn, gedurende 1932 (1)', Tijdschrift over Planteziekte, Vol 39 Iss 4, April 1933, p.82 In the US, an Ulmus microphylla pendula, 'Weeping Small-leaved Elm', was marketed by the Mount Hope Nursery (also known as Ellwanger and Barry) of Rochester, New York, and by Frederick W. Kelsey of New York, while an U. campestris microphylla pendula was supplied by the Bobbink and Atkins nursery, Rutherford, New Jersey, and the Perry Nursery Co. of Rochester, N.Y.Illustrated and descriptive catalogue of fruit and ornamental trees, Perry Nursery Co., Rochester, N.Y., 1912, p.90 Two of these nurseries also stocked 'Propendens'.
Synonymy Ulmus campestris var. gracilis monstrosa: Lavallée , Arboretum Segrezianum235, 1877. Ulmus carpinifolia 'Microphylla Pendula': Royal Botanic Garden Wakehurst Place.
Accessions Europe Grange Farm Arboretum, Lincolnshire, UK. Acc. no. 1135. Royal Botanic Garden Wakehurst Place, UK. Acc. no. 1973-21052 (listed as U. carpinifolia 'Microphylla Pendula')
Nurseries None known.
References