The field elm cultivar Ulmus minor 'Viminalis' The name U. minor 'Viminalis' occurs in Hillier, J., and Coombes, A., The Hillier Manual of Trees and Shrubs (Newton Abbot, 2002), p.371 (:'willow-like'), occasionally referred to as the twiggy field elm, was raised by Masters in 1817, and listed in 1831 as U. campestris viminalis, without description. Loudon added a general description in 1838, and the Cambridge University Herbarium acquired a leaf specimen of the tree in 1866. Moss, writing in 1912, said that the Ulmus campestris viminalis from Cambridge University Herbarium was the only elm he thought agreed with the original Plot's elm (not U. minor 'Plotii') as illustrated in Dr. Plot's Natural History of Oxfordshire (1677) from specimens growing in an avenue and coppice at Hanwell near Banbury. The illustration, by Michael Burghers, is the earliest known botanical drawing of elm-leaves in England.Richens, R. H., 'Elm' (Cambridge, 1983), p.183; p.80 (illustration); p.221 Hanwell information Elwes and Henry (1913) also considered Loudon's Ulmus campestris viminalis to be Dr Plot's and Michael Burghers' Hanwell elm. Its 19th-century name, U. campestris var. viminalis, led the cultivar to be classified for a time as a variety of English Elm. On the Continent, 'Viminalis' was listed as Ulmus antarctica Hort., the 'zierliche Ulme' [:'dainty elm'] of Kirchner's Arboretum Muscaviense (1864).
Melville considered 'Viminalis' one form, the 'type' cultivar, of the natural, variable hybrid, U. minor × U. minor 'Plotii', which occurs in England where the two trees overlap, and which he called, believing U. plotii Druce a species, U. × viminalis. He questioned, however, Henry's claim that 'Viminalis' was Dr Plot's elm. Writing in 1940 and referring to a pencil rubbing in Herb. Druce, vol. 113 of the Sloane Collection, he wrote "I can see no reason to doubt that this is Plot's plant," but "it is [not] U. × viminalis Lodd". Boom (1959) and Bean (1988) listed 'Viminalis' as a cultivar and the 'type' clone of Melville's U. × viminalis.
Description Wood (1851) described 'Viminalis' as "a neat-growing compact tree, with small foliage", Henry (1913) as a "tree with ascending branches, pendulous branchlets, and sparse foliage", and Bean (1981) as a "narrow-headed, rather slender tree". 'Viminalis' is slow-growing; it can ultimately reach 20 m in height.Browne, D. J. (1846). The Trees of America. Harper & Brothers, New York. Leaves vary from obovate-elliptic to narrowly elliptic; they are deeply serrated, < 5.0 cm long, tapering to a nearly symmetrical base and long-acuminate at the tip, with prominent white axil tufts on the undersides. Sheet described U. campestris var. viminalis (Loud.) (Amsterdam specimen); Sheet described as U. procera Salisb. var. viminalis (Loud.) Rehd. (Hortus Leiden specimen); Sheet described as U. procera 'Viminalis' (Wageningen Arboretum specimen, 1962); Formerly Ulmus antarctica (Späth), 1925; Planted cultivar, Ibrahim Pasha Gardens, Beykoz, Istanbul (1961) In his description of Ulmus antarctica Hort. (1864), Kirchner added that the leaves are more or less downward-curving, with longish petioles, and that the leaf-margins have numerous deep, double, hook-shaped teeth, "so that the leaves appear almost slit".
Loudon's sketch (below) suggests that a narrow leaf was fairly uniform on his tree. The Cambridge University Herbarium specimen of Loudon's Ulmus campestris viminalisU. campestris viminalis leaves, Cambridge University Herbarium, labelled 'Herb. J. Lindley, Ph.D., Purchased in 1866' shows leaves resembling both Henry's 'Viminalis' drawing[File:Leaf of U. 'Viminalis' from Elwes & Henry.jpg Leaf-drawing of Elwes & Henry's 'type' tree (1913)] and Schneider's 'Antarctica' drawing,[File:Illustriertes Handbuch der Laubholzkunde, page 215.jpg Schneider, Camillo Karl (1906), Illustriertes Handbuch der Laubholzkunde, p.215, Fig. "o": f. antarctica] confirming the synonymy. 'Viminalis' has been likened to Zelkova × verschaffeltii.Hilliers' Manual of Trees & Shrubs. (1977). David & Charles, Newton Abbot, UK. Bean wrote in 1936, "I have never seen it bearing fruit, although it flowers." The old specimen in Lydiard Street, Ballarat, Victoria, however (see 'Notable trees'), produces abundant fruit, the seed being close to the marginal notch in somewhat broad samarae.
Pests and diseases 'Viminalis' is very susceptible to Dutch elm disease, as are the natural hybrids between field elm and plot elm (Melville's U. × viminalis), of which the type cultivar is usually considered an example.
Cultivation 'Viminalis' was valued for its ornamental qualities, Wood (1851) considering it "well adapted for the back part of shrubberies". Bean (1936) called it "a charming small tree for gardens, very elegant and not growing fast",Bean, W. J. (1936) Trees and shrubs hardy in Great Britain, 7th edition, Murray, London, vol. 2, p.621 while the catalogue of Hillier & Sons, Winchester, Hampshire, (1958) described it as "an extremely graceful, slender tree of slow growth, easily distinguished from all other elms by its narrow, fimbriated leaves".Trees and Shrubs Catalogue, Hillier & Sons, 1958–1959, p.99 Kirchner noted that the tree is not sensitive to frost. Specimens were present in many of the major UK collections, including Cambridge University Botanic Garden (see 'Notable trees' below), Kew Gardens (35 ft., 1913), Westonbirt Arboretum (49 ft., 1927), Royal Victoria Park, Bath (1857, 1905),Hanham, F. (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. and Ryston Hall arboretum, Norfolk (planted as U. antarctica, 1914). 'Viminalis' remained in the catalogues of the Hillier nursery, Winchester, till the 1960s.
Introduced to North America, Ulmus viminalis, 'slender-twigged elm', was marketed by Hovey's nursery of Boston, Massachusetts, from the 1850s,Hovey & Co., Boston, Mass., Catalogue of ornamental trees & shrubs, evergreens and climbing plants, 1855, p.5 and by the Mount Hope Nursery (also known as Ellwanger and Barry) of Rochester, New York, from c.1860.Ellwanger & Barry, Descriptive Catalogue of Hardy Ornamental Trees ... at the Mount Hope Nurseries (Rochester, N.Y., 1868), p.9 In continental Europe, North America and Australasia a few specimens survive in arboreta and avenues. One tree in height, determined as U. × viminalis Loud. by Melville, stood by the lake at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Melbourne, in 1953.Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle, Paris (France). Collection: Vascular plants (P). Specimen P06882554 It may have been the Ulmus viminalis specimen present in the Gardens in 1877.Guilfoyle, W. R. (William Robert), Annual report on the Melbourne Botanic Gardens, Government House grounds and Domain, Melbourne, 1877; p.39 In the UK one mature tree survives (2026), in Withdean Park, Brighton and Hove.'Viminalis' in Withdean Park, Brighton, 2025; Friends of Withdean Park: Guided Tree Walks (tree no.24); wordpress.com A second, in Longhill School, Rottingdean, died in 2016,'Viminalis' in The Vale, Longhill High School, Brighton - Google Maps, June 2012, access date: 25 July, 2026 and a third, near Lewes Rd, Brighton University, c.2019.(centre), Brighton University, Lewes Rd - Google Maps, March 2019, access date: 25 July, 2026 The tree remains in cultivation in Australia.
Notable trees Elwes and Henry list notable specimens "of this variety" (the type tree described and illustrated) in the Cambridge University Botanic Garden (70 ft) and in Gisselfeld Park, Denmark (60 ft). Three trees labelled U. 'Viminalis', pollarded in 1984, stand in Benalla Botanic Gardens, Australia.benalla.vic.gov.au/Files/BRC_Gardens_DL.pdf'Viminalis' in Benalla Botanic Gardens, trusttrees.org.au An old specimen of the same cultivar, apparently unpollarded, stands in Lydiard Street, Ballarat, Victoria. The last known (2026) non-variegated 'Viminalis' in Europe is the specimen in Withdean Park, Brighton.
Cultivars
Cultivars include both sports of the type tree and elms similar enough to have been conjectured as related to it: Viminalis Aurea, Viminalis Gracilis, Viminalis Incisa, Viminalis Marginata, Viminalis Pendula, Viminalis Pulverulenta, Viminalis Stricta.
Synonymy Ulmus antarctica Hort.. Ulmus campestris antarctica. Ulmus campestris 'Betulinoides'. Ulmus campestris var. betulaefolia. U. campestris var. laciniata.Botanic Garden Meise, Herbarium specimen BR0000010841105 U. campestris var. microphylla pendula Hort. as in synonymy. Ulmus campestris var. nuda subvar. incisa Hort.Vilv.. Considered "possibly U. viminalis" by Green (1964). Ulmus campestris var. stricta. Ulmus campestris var. virginalis in synonymy. ? Ulmus campestris viminalis stricta. Ulmus gracilis Hort.. Ulmus 'Masters's Twiggy'. Ulmus montana viminalis marmorata Hort.. Ulmus scabra viminalis gracilis Hort.. Ulmus scabra viminalis pulverulenta Hort.. Ulmus suberosa betuloides Hort.. Ulmus viminalis Lodd.Krüssman, Gerd, Manual of Cultivated Broad-Leaved Trees & Shrubs (1984 vol. 3) Ulmus viminalis pendula.
Accessions
North America Arnold Arboretum, US. Acc. no. 499–53
Europe Brighton & Hove City Council, UK. NCCPG Elm collection. UK champion: Upper Larkrise Wood, 23 m high, 50 cm d.b.h., last surveyed in 1995.Johnson, Owen (ed.) (2003). Champion Trees of Britain & Ireland. Whittet Press, . Cambridge Botanic Garden , University of Cambridge, UK. No details available.
Australasia Benalla Botanic Gardens, Australia. Three specimens; listed on the Significant Tree Register of the National Trust.
Pseudo-'Viminalis' and 'Viminalis'-like elms Not all clones named 'Viminalis' match the named cultivars above. Three specimens supplied by the Späth nursery to the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh in 1902 as Ulmus campestris viminalisSpäth's erroneous clone, data.rbge.org.uk E00824785, E00824787, E00824880 were determined by Melville in 1958 as U. viminalis Lodd but "not the usual nothomorph". Späth's U. campestris viminalis ("not the usual nothomorph"; RBGE tree C2706; 1958); Späth's U. campestris viminalis ("not the usual nothomorph"; 1902); Späth's U. campestris viminalis ("not the usual nothomorph"; 1902)Melville's 1958 annotations to the RBGE cultivated herbarium accessions book, tree C2706 One stood in the Garden itself till the late 20th century; the other two may survive in Edinburgh, as it was the practice of the Garden to distribute trees about the city. An old cultivar with leaves that appear to match herbarium specimens of Späth's U. campestris viminalis data.rbge.org.uk, specimen E00824785 stands (2018) in the middle of North Walk, The Meadows, Edinburgh (see gallery); a second, possibly the same clone and age, in the grounds of Holyrood Palace (both trees lost their crowns in a 2016 gale and are regenerating). The Ulmus campestris viminalis supplied by Späth and planted in 1897 at the Dominion Arboretum, Ottawa, Canada, is likely to have been this clone (not to be confused with Späth's U. × hollandica 'Viminalis').
'Viminalis'-like elms, with small lanceolate long-petioled leaves tapering gradually at the base, are present in some English herbaria.'Viminalis'-like elm from Huntingdonshire, 1910; collected by Augustin Ley A number of old non-ornamental trees believed to belong to Melville's U. × viminalis group survive (2015) in a wood in Mepal, Cambridgeshire.Wilkinson, Gerald, After the Elm (London 1978)
References