Ulmus castaneifolia Hemsley,Jour. Linn. Soc. XXVI. 446. 1894 the chestnut-leafed elm or multinerved elm, is a small deciduous tree found across much of China in broadleaved forests at elevations of .
Description The tree can reach a height of with a trunk of about 0.5 m d.b.h. The bark is thick with a pronounced corky layer, and is longitudinally fissured. The branchlets are devoid of the corky wings common to many elms. The leaves are generally narrow, ranging from obovate to elliptic, up to 15 cm long, and densely hirsute when young. Schneider's leaf-drawing (1907) shows a longish petiole.Schneider, Camillo Karl, Illustriertes Handbuch der Laubholzkunde (Jena, 1907), p.903-904 The perfect wind-pollinated apetalous flowers are produced on second-year shoots in February; the samarae are mostly obovate < 30 × 16 mm,Fu, L., Xin, Y. & Whittemore, A. (2002). Ulmaceae, in Wu, Z. & Raven, P. (eds) Flora of China, Vol. 5 (Ulmaceae through Basellaceae). Science Press, Beijing, and Missouri Botanical Garden Press, St. Louis, USA. White, J. & More, D. (2003). Trees of Britain & Northern Europe. Cassell's, London. with seed close to the apex. Samara specimen; sheet labelled Ulmus castaneifolia, Hort. Bot. Parisiensis
Pests and diseases Ulmus castaneifolia is resistant to Dutch elm disease and to elm leaf beetle Xanthogaleruca luteola.
Cultivation The species is very rare in cultivation; it was one of 12 Chinese species under evaluation at the Morton Arboretum, Illinois, in 2009 by the late Dr George Ware.Dirr, M. (2009). 'Future Tree Selections'. Western, Spring 2009, p. 8. Western Nursery & Landscape Association, St Joseph, Missouri. In artificial freezing tests at the arboretum,Shirazi, A. M. & Ware, G. H. (2004). Evaluation of New Elms from China for Cold Hardiness in Northern Latitudes. International Symposium on Asian Plant Diversity & Systematics 2004, Sakura, Japan. the LT50 (temperature at which 50% of tissues die) was found to be −26 °C. There are no known cultivars of this taxon, nor is it known to be in commerce.
Notable trees The UK TROBI champion grows at Calderstones Park, Merseyside. Another of similar dimensions grows at the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, planted in 1973.Johnson, O. (2011). Champion Trees of Britain & Ireland, p. 168. Kew Publishing, Kew, London. .
Accessions North America Chicago Botanic Garden, US. Planted in West Collections Area. Denver Botanic Gardens, US. Acc. details not available Morton Arboretum, US. Acc. no. 46–95. obtained from Yunnan Province, China. University of British Columbia Botanical Garden, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Acc. no. 027099–0437–1989, (as U. multinervis). United States National Arboretum, Washington, D.C., US. Acc. nos. 76219, 68914. Europe Calderstones Park, Merseyside, UK. TROBI Champion, 13 m high, 45 cm d.b.h. (2011). Grange Farm Arboretum, Lincolnshire, UK. Acc. no. 698. Hortus Botanicus Nationalis, Salaspils, Latvia. Acc. no. 18149 (as U. multinervis W. C. Cheng), from Beijing. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, UK. Acc. no. 1973–11726 Sir Harold Hillier Gardens, UK. Acc. no. 1994.0327, area PC 700, origin not disclosed. Strona Arboretum, University of Life Sciences, Warsaw, Poland, (as Ulmus multinervis). Wijdemeren City Council, Netherlands. Elm Arboretum, 2 planted Overmeerseweg, Nederhorst den Berg in 2015.
References
External links U. castaneifolia description, Flora of China, vol.5 p.8, efloras.org U. castaneifolia fruit and leaves illustration, Flora of China, efloras.org Photographs labelled U. castaneifolia on Plant Photo Bank of China, ppbc.iplant U. castaneifolia description, and photographs labelled U. castaneifolia, ulmen-handbuch.de