The Field Elm cultivar Ulmus minor 'Suberosa', commonly known as the Cork-barked elm, is a slow-growing or dwarf form of conspicuously suberose Field Elm. Of disputed status, it is considered a distinct variety by some botanists, among them Henry (1913), Krüssmann (1984),Krüssman, Gerd, Manual of Cultivated Broad-Leaved Trees & Shrubs (1984 vol. 3) and Bean (1988),Bean, W. J., Trees and shrubs hardy in Great Britain, 8th edition (1988), Murray, London; p.643 and is sometimes cloned and planted as a cultivar. Henry said the tree "appears to be a common variety in the forests of central Europe", Bean noting that it "occurs in dry habitats". By the proposed rule that known or suspected clones of U. minor, once cultivated and named, should be treated as cultivars, the tree would be designated U. minor 'Suberosa'.Coleman M. (2002) 'British elms.' British Wildlife 13 (6): 390-395. The Späth nursery of Berlin distributed an U. campestris suberosa alata Kirchn. [:'corky-winged'] from the 1890s to the 1930s.
Green and Richens, however, dismissed var. suberosa as just a genetically random, maritime or juvenile form of U. minor, insufficiently differentiated to merit varietal status, its name a relic of taxonomic conservatism.Richens, R. H., Elm (Cambridge 1983), p.83, p. 278 Richens noted (1983) that some Soviet botanists still accorded the tree species status, as U. suberosa.
Description Henry, having seen specimens in Slavonia, Croatia, and in Gisselfelde, Denmark, as well as at Kew, described the tree as having "branchlets of the second to the tenth year furnished with corky wings", but with "leaves and samarae as in the type". Sheet labelled U. campestris suberosa (1901); "Herbarium specimen 293468, herbariaunited.org Sheet labelled Ulmus glabra Miller var. suberosa, Kew Gardens specimen, A. Ley (1910); Sheet labelled Ulmus nitens var. suberosa (Kew Gardens samarae specimen, 1935); Sheet labelled U. carpinifolia var. suberosa (1957) Krüssman and Bean report it to be "rather dwarf" in comparison with most U. minor. The Kew specimens (see below) suggest that its slow growth is probably not related to dry habitat. Given the widespread occurrence of variable suberose Field Elm across Europe, it is likely that most photographs of Field Elm with corky flanges on branches do not show the cultivated dwarf variety. Young and semi-mature trees of some Ulmus × hollandica cultivars, notably 'Major', the 'Dutch Elm' of Britain and Australasia, also develop corky bark.
Pests and diseases See under Ulmus minor.
Cultivation Field Elms labelled var. suberosa, presumably cultivated vegetatively to preserve the form, have been and continue to be included in a number of botanical collections,Hanham, Frederick (1857). A Manual for the Park: or, A botanical arrangement and description of the trees and shrubs in the Royal Victoria Park, Bath. p.209. London.Inman, Frederic (1905) 'The Elm, with a Notice of some Remarkable Varieties in the Victoria Park, Bath', January 1902, from Proceedings of the Bath natural history and antiquarian field club, vol.10, p.37. Bath. notably in central and eastern Europe. A striking specimen so labelled, with thick corky branches and branchlets giving a dense winter silhouette, stands in the Botanic Gardens of Visby in Gotland, Sweden;Korkelm in the Botanic Gardens of Visby in Gotland, Sweden a second specimen, with an even denser winter form and bearing the cultivar name U. minor 'Stenstrup',U. minor 'Stenstrup', Västra Götaland; monumentaltrees.com stands in the Gothenburg Botanical Garden (height 20 m, girth 1.54 m, in 2014); and others are reported from elsewhere in Sweden, from the University of Copenhagen Arboretum,U. minor var. suberosa, University of Copenhagen Faculty of Life Sciences, and from the Alexandru Buia Botanic Garden in the University of Craiova, Rumania.U. minor Miller var. suberosa (Henry), Alexandru Buia Botanic Garden, University of Craiova, Rumania Ley (1910) said he had seen only cultivated specimens in Britain, in Salisbury Cathedral Close and in Kew Gardens. "Two young trees of this variety cultivated at Kew show the suberosity of the branches extending ten feet or more very beautifully." Two trees that stand along Sportlaan in Uithoorn, Netherlands, are used for propagation by Noordplant Nurseries. In 2007 Wijdemeren City Council planted one specimen of the cultivar 'Cloud Corky'Van Den Berk nursery. (2019). 'Cloud Corky' illustrated and described. Van Den Berk nursery 2019 catalogue in the Elm Arboretum at Catharina-Amalia Plantsoen, Loosdrecht.
A specimen of Späth's U. campestris suberosa alata was planted in 1897 at the Dominion Arboretum, Ottawa, Canada. Three specimens supplied by Späth to the RBGE in 1902 as U. campestris suberosa alata Sheet labelled U. campestris suberosa alata (1902); Sheet labelled U. campestris suberosa alata (1902) may survive in Edinburgh, as it was the practice of the Garden to distribute trees about the city (viz. the Wentworth Elm); the current list of Living Accessions held in the Garden per se does not list the plant. An Ulmus campestris suberosa was in Australian nurseries from the 1870s.Brookes, Margaret, & Barley, Richard, Plants listed in nursery catalogues in Victoria, 1855-1889 (Ornamental Plant Collection Association, South Yarra, Victoria, 1992), p.303–304
Notable trees Henry (1913) said there were four specimens at Kew, "of no great size, but of considerable age", long erroneously labelled U. alata.
Varieties 'Suberosa Pendula' 'Suberosa Tortuosa' 'Stenstrup' 'Cloud Corky' The field elm cultivar U. minor 'Cloud Corky' appears to have the narrow pyramidal form, short side branches, and extreme suberosity, of the 'Korkelm' in the Botanic Gardens of Visby, Gotland, Sweden, and of the U. minor 'Stenstrup' in the Gothenburg Botanical Garden, Sweden (see 'Cultivation').
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