The Field Elm cultivar Ulmus minor 'Purpurascens' was listed by Lavalléekiki.huh.harvard.edu in Arboretum Segrezianum (1877)Arboretum Segrezianum 236, 1877 as U. campestris var. purpurascens (purpurea), but without description, and later by Schneider in Illustriertes Handbuch der Laubholzkunde (1904).Illustriertes Handbuch der Laubholzkunde, 1:220, 1904Henry (1913) gives Laubholzkunde 1894. Krüssmannkiki.huh.harvard.edu in Handbuch der Laubgehölze (1962) identified it as a cultivar.Krüssmann, Handbuch der Laubgehölze, 2: 540, 1962
Schneider, Henry, and Green believed the cultivar 'Myrtifolia Purpurea', which was also first listed in 1877, a synonym of U minor 'Purpurascens'.
Description The tree has small leaves approximately 25 mm long, rough above, downy beneath, tinged with purple when young, but turning dark green later. Sheet described as U. campestris L. purpurea The twigs are downy. Green noted that the tree usually remains small.
Pests and diseases See under Ulmus minor.
Cultivation A grafted tree at Kew Gardens labelled U. campestris var. purpurascens, planted in 1885, was 20 ft tall by 1912. (For specimens supplied by the Späth nursery as U. campestris myrtifolia purpurea, see 'Myrtifolia Purpurea'.)
Notable trees Three trees survive in Hove, one of them the UK champion (see 'Accessions'). Until 2018 one was misidentified as the large-leaved purple elm U. × hollandica 'Purpurascens'.
Synonymy Ulmus myrtifolia purpurea (?): Louis de Smet , (Ghent, Belgium), Catalogue 10, p. 59, 1877.
Accessions Europe Brighton & Hove City Council, UK, NCCPG Elm Collection. Cottesmore St. Mary School, Hove (1 tree, National Champion, 18 m high, 51 cm d.b.h. in 1993Johnson, O. (2011). Champion Trees of Britain & Ireland, p. 168. Kew Publishing, Kew, London. ); Brighton & Hove Prep School, Radinden Manor Rd, Hove (1 tree); Davigdor Road, Hove (1 tree).
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