Ulmus minor Mill., the field elm, is by far the most polymorphic of the European species, although its taxonomy remains a matter of contention. Its natural range is predominantly south European, extending to Asia Minor and Iran; its northern outposts are the Baltic islands of Öland and Gotland,Ulmus minor in Gotland, Sweden: ulmen-handbuch.de/handbuch/ulmus although it may have been introduced by humans. The tree's typical habitat is low-lying forest along the main rivers, growing in association with oak and ash, where it tolerates summer floods as well as droughts.Heybroek, H. M., Goudzwaard, L, Kaljee, H. (2009). Iep of olm, karakterboom van de Lage Landen (:Elm, a tree with character of the Low Countries). KNNV, Uitgeverij.
Current treatment of the species owes much to Richens, who noted (1983) that several varieties of field elm are distinguishable on the European mainland. Of these, he listed the small-leaved U. minor of France and Spain; the narrow-leaved U. minor of northern and central Italy; the densely hairy leaved U. minor of southern Italy and Greece; the U. minor with small-toothed leaves from the Balkans; the U. minor with large-toothed leaves from the Danube region; and the small-leaved U. minor from southern Russia and Ukraine.Richens, R. H., Elm (Cambridge 1983), p.18 As for British varieties, "the continental populations most closely related [to eastern English Field Elm] are in central Europe", while south-western forms were introduced from France.Richens, R. H., Elm (Cambridge 1983), p.21 He concluded, however, that owing to incomplete field-research at the time of writing, it was "not possible to present an overall breakdown of the European Field Elm into regional varieties".Richens, R. H., Elm (Cambridge 1983), p.88 The epithet 'red' elm was commonly used by British foresters, an allusion to the colour of the timber.Edlin, H. L. (1947). British Woodland Trees, p.26. 3rd. edition. London: B. T. Batsford Ltd.
Richens sank a number of British elms, notably English elm, as either subspecies or varieties of U. minor in 1968. However, Melville, writing ten years later, identified five distinct species (including U. glabra in the count), several varieties and numerous complex hybrids. In 1992 Armstrong identified no fewer than forty British species and microspecies. Clive Stace (1997) wrote of the British elms "The two-species (glabra and minor) concept of Richens is not sufficiently discriminating to be of taxonomic value". Nevertheless, it is Richens' classification which has been the most commonly adopted in recent years, although it is not used in Flora Europaea.Flora EuropaeaStace, C. A. (1997). New Flora of the British Isles. 2nd edition. Cambridge University Press.
In 2009 Dr Max Coleman of the Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh wrote: "The advent of DNA fingerprinting has shed considerable light on the question. A number of studies have now shown that the distinctive forms Melville elevated to species and Richens lumped together as field elm are single clones, all genetically identical, which have been propagated by vegetative means such as cuttings or root suckers. This means that enigmatic British elms such as Plot elm and English elm have been shown to be single clones of field elm. Although Richens did not have the evidence to prove it, he was correct in recognising a series of clones and grouping them together as a variable species."Max Coleman, ed.: Wych Elm (Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh publication, 2009; ); p. 22
It is hoped that analysis of molecular markers will ultimately eliminate the taxonomic confusion.
Description The tree typically grows to < 30 m (98 ft) and bears a rounded crown.Photographs of Ulmus minor in France (L'orme de Martailly-lès-Brancion), krapooarboricole.wordpress.com ; in Portugal, 1.bp.blogspot.com . The bark of the trunk is rough, furrowed lightly in older trees to form a block pattern. Young branchlets occasionally have corky wings. The shoots are slender compared with those of wych elm. The leaves are smaller than those of the other European species, hence the specific epithet minor, however they can vary greatly according to the maturity of the tree. Leaves on juvenile growth (suckers, seedlings etc.) are coarse and pubescent, whereas those on mature growth are generally smooth, though remaining highly variable in form; there are generally fewer than 12 pairs of side veins. Labelled Ulmus carpinifolia Gled., Pont du Gard, France, 1981 A common characteristic is the presence of minute black glands along the leaf veins, detectable with the aid of a magnifying glass. The samarae are oval or obovate, glabrous, long, notched at the top, with the seed close to the notch.Bean, W. J. (1981). Trees and shrubs hardy in Great Britain, 7th edition. Murray, London. Ulmus minor in France generally begins to flower and fruit when aged 10 years.Brookes, A. H. (2020). Great Fontley Elm Trial, 2020 Report. Butterfly Conservation, Lulworth, England.
The species readily produces suckers from roots and stumps, even after devastation by Dutch elm disease; consequently genetic resources are not considered endangered.
Pests and diseases The species has a hugely variable reaction to Dutch elm disease (DED), including all the fashionable pre-20th century plantsman's clones (see Subspecies and varieties). However, field elm is genetically highly variable; Italian specimens when inoculated with the pathogen displayed between 15 and 100% dieback and between 70 and 100% wilting.Solla, A., Bohnens, J., Collin, E., Diamandis, S., Franke, A., Gil, L., Burón, M., Santini, A., Mittempergher, L., Pinon, J., Vanden Broeck, A. (2005). Screening European elms for resistance to Ophiostoma novo-ulmi. Forest Science, 51(2) 2005 134-141.
Tolerance of elm yellows (phloem necrosis) is generally good, U. minor exhibiting symptoms such as the 'witch's broom' only sporadically throughout Italy, including Sicily and Sardinia, however the disease was often locally common within the species in France, including Paris.Mittempergher, L. (2000). Elm Yellows in Europe. in Dunn, C.P., (ed.): The Elms, Breeding, Conservation, & Disease Management. 104-105. Boston: Kluwer Academuic Publishing.
Cultivation U. minor in general and a number of clones in particular (see 'Cultivars' below) were once commonly cultivated across Europe in town and country, but owing to its susceptibility to Dutch elm disease, U. minor is now uncommon in cultivation. However, in an ongoing project that began in the 1990s, several thousand surviving field elms have been tested for innate resistance by national research institutes in the EU, with a view to returning field elm to cultivation. Results from Spain (2013), for example, confirm that a very small number of surviving field elms (about 0.5% of those tested) appear to have comparatively high levels of tolerance of the disease, and it is hoped that a controlled crossing of the best of these will produce resistant Ulmus minor hybrids for cultivation.'Spanish Clones' (Oct. 2013) resistantelms.co.uk
In the UK, despite its late leaf-flush in the north and its suckering habits, continental U. minor was occasionally planted as an ornamental urban tree. Augustine Henry wrote in 1913 that “In all probability many of” the U. minor planted in parks in Scotland were of French origin. More recently U. minor seed was imported to the UK from Italy.E. E. Kemp (Curator, Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh 1950-71) in After the Elm, eds. Clouston & Stansfield, (London, 1979) There are mature survivors in Edinburgh that are not the common U. minor cultivars (2015).Boswall Rd [two]; corner of Abbey Mount and Regent Rd; News Steps; Carlton Terrace Brae; Links Place; Seafield Place. Verified by samarae, leaves, suckering habit, form, and late leaf-flush; trees all on Streetview.
U. minor was introduced, as U. campestris suberosa or simply U. suberosa, to the US and Canada, where a few old specimens survive,Old U. minor, field elm, 'Trees of Vancouver' and to the southern hemisphere, notably AustralasiaBrookes, Margaret, & Barley, Richard, Plants listed in nursery catalogues in Victoria, 1855-1889 (Ornamental Plant Collection Association, South Yarra, Victoria, 1992), p.303–304 and Argentina.Hiersch, H., Hensen, I., Zalapa, J. Guries, R. & Brunet, J. (2013). Is hybridization a necessary condition for the evolution of invasiveness in non-native Siberian elm? Abstracts. Third International Elm Conference 2013. The elm after 100 years of Dutch elm disease. Florence, p.45. Abstract.
Notable trees U. minor can live to a great age. An ancient field elm stood until recently in the village square of Metaxades, Thrace, Greece. Having abandoned their original village in 1286 after cholera outbreaks, the villagers re-founded it in the hills where a young elm was growing beside a spring. An elm (reputedly the original) and the fountain were the focal-point of the village until the late 20th century. The tallest recorded field elms in Greece were two specimens planted in 1650 beside the newly built church of the Archangels Michael and Gabriel, in Omali Voiou (Oμαλή Bοΐου) near Siatista, which, despite being open-grown trees, attained a height of 40 metres by the mid-20th century.The elms of Omali Voiou: «Oι εκκλησίες της Oμαλής Bοΐου» [:The Churches of Omali Voiou], photograph 7 (p.25): www.scribd.com The immemorial elm opposite the village square of Aidona in Thessaly, GreeceSummer photograph of the centuries-old Aidona elm: sites.google.comWinter photograph of Aidona elm: nikos-manitarielassonas, photograph 3 which has been "listed" as a national "Monument of Nature",Διατηρητέα Μνημεία της Φύσεως αριθ.36 (:Listed Monuments of Nature, No. 36): https://web.archive.org/web/20080616173320/http://users.otenet.gr/~theonik/peribal/esthitik.htm lost its crown in a recent storm (2009) and has now been pollarded; it is regenerating vigorously. A rare example of a centuries-old field elm that retains its heartwood and crown is the 360-year-old specimen in the village square of Strinylas, Corfu.The elm in Strinylas, Corfu: greeka.comThe elm in Strinylas, Corfu: greeka.com/ionian/corfu/corfu-villages/strinilas-corfu.htm; https://web.archive.org/web/20011224222535/http://www.manfred-peters.de/Titel_Korfu_Tip_Nord.htmThe elm in Strinylas, Corfu: static.panoramio.com
A tree said to be of similar age named The Old Elm (200 cm d.b.h.) still stands (2013) in the city of Sliven, Bulgaria; other veterans are said to survive in the village of Samuilovo, 7 km from Sliven.
In France, a tree reputedly over 650 years old survived in the centre of Biscarrosse south of Bordeaux until the summer of 2010, when it finally succumbed to Dutch elm disease.krapooarboricole.wordpress.com, Another veteran with a 6-metre girth survives at Bettange, France, close to the Belgian border, reputedly planted in 1593.arbresvenerables.free.fr , krapooarboricole.wordpress.com Other wrecks include 'l'ormeau de Sully' in Villesèquelande near Carcassonne,L'Ormeau de Sully, Villesèquelande, panoramio.com "a magnificent tree supported by three metal props", said to have been planted in the early 17th C by the Duc de Sully,sullystrees.weebly.com/list-of-trees-by-french-departements.html
A tree approximately 400 years old and 5.55 metres in girth grows in the town of Mergozzo in Piedmont, Italy. 'L'olmo di Mergozzo', like its French counterparts 'l'orme de Biscarosse' and 'l'orme de Bettange', is hollowed out by age, its life prolonged by lopping, while in Spain the elm in the Plaza del Olmo ("Elm square" in Spanish) in Navajas, Valencia, is 6.3 metres in girth; planted in 1636 it features on the town crest.Ayuntamiento de Navajas, Historia y patrimonio