The American elm cultivar Ulmus americana 'Moline' was cloned from a wild seedling transplanted to Moline, Illinois, from nearby Rock River Valley in 1903 and propagated from 1916 by the Klehm Nurseries, Arlington Heights, Illinois.'Three novelties for 1928: Ulmus americana 'Molinii', Ulmus americana 'Urnii', Populus alba 'Richardii' ' : bulletin of Klehms' Nurseries, IllinoisWelch, G. L. & Co. The Plumfield Nurseries, 1929 Catalog. Plumfield Nurseries, Fremont, Nebraska.
Description 'Moline' is distinguished by its narrow but open form, with a single central trunk likened to a Lombardy Poplar when young,H. R. Mosnat, 'Beating the grain of mustard seed: an elm six years planted grows 35 feet tall', The Dearborn Independent (Dearborn, Michigan), 17 April 1926, Vol 26 No 26, p.31 the branches of the older trees being ultimately horizontal.Photograph of pyramidal 'Moline' elms, Plumfield Nurseries 1935 Cat., p.15; Fremont, Nebraska The leaves, of a dark rich shade of green,Brand Peony Farms; 1930 catalogue (Faribault, Minnesota; p.16) could be exceptionally broad, measuring 15 cm across. Ulmus americana var. 'Moline' (Arnold Arboretum specimen, 1930)Photographs of Ulmus americana 'Moline', Morton Arboretum, 'Ulmus Series', acorn.mortonarb.orgImages of mature trees at Morton Arboretum
A photograph captioned 'The Moline elm as it is growing in Moline, Illinois' in the Arnold Arboretum paper 'Elms grown in America' (1951) in fact shows a specimen of the field elm cultivar 'Umbraculifera' in Moline. Trees Magazine, Vol.12 No.1, November-December 1951, p.22
Pests and diseases 'Moline' was susceptible to Dutch elm disease.American elm, ag.ndsu.edu/trees/handbook, III. p.114 In trials at the Morton Arboretum, Illinois, the tree was eschewed by the elm leaf beetle Xanthogaleruca luteola. No other specific information available, but the species as a whole is highly preferred for feeding by the Japanese beetle Popillia japonica. U. americana is the most susceptible of all the elms to verticillium wilt.Pegg, G. F. & Brady, B. L. (2002). Verticillium Wilts. CABI Publishing.
Cultivation In earlier field trials at Morton, 'Moline' was found to have a relatively fast growth rate, exceeding 7.7 m (25 ft) in height in 10 years. The clone was hardy through Iowa, Illinois, Southern Wisconsin, and Michigan, but was susceptible to frost further north. By 1928 Minnesota winters had claimed most of the 568 'Moline' in Victory Memorial Drive in North Minneapolis, commemorating the war dead of Hennepin County; they were replaced with hardier 'Minneapolis Park'.Theodore Wirth, Minneapolis Park System 1883–1944 (Minneapolis Board of Park Commissioners, 1945) In Lake City and Duluth, Minnesota, 'Moline' and its stablemate 'Vase' were found to be vulnerable to frost crack and sun scald, and were replaced by the cultivar 'Lake City', the bark of which grew rough at a younger age.The Lake City Elm (booklet), Lake City Nurseries (Lake City, Minnesota);1932 'Moline' was still in cultivation in the 1950s,Plumfield Nurseries, 1949 Cat., p.22; Fremont, Nebraska.Moffet, L. A. The Plumfield Nurseries, Bulletin No. 2, March 7, 1934. Plumfield Nurseries, Fremont, Nebraska but was by then considered by Trees Magazine "an inferior type of American elm".Trees Magazine, Vol.12 no.1, November-December 1951, p.22 It is not known to have been introduced to Europe or Australasia.
Synonymy Ulmus americana var. molinensis: Bailey & Bailey, Hortus Second 746, 1941.
Hybrid cultivars 'Moline' was crossed with American elm W-185-21 to create the moderately disease-resistant cultivar 'Independence'.
Accessions North America Morton Arboretum, US. Acc. no. 1297-27.
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