| Ulmus aff. 'Plotii' | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Genus | Ulmus |
| Cultivar | Ulmus aff. 'Plotii' |
| Origin | Europe |
Ulmusaff. 'Plotii', or 'pseudo-Plotii', was the name first used byMelville in the 1940s (in the formaff. plotii) forelms in England, of various genotypes, that resemble but do not completely match the 'type'-tree,U. minor 'Plotii'.[3] It was taken up again, with name adapted, following Dr Max Coleman's findings aboutPlot Elm (2000)[4] and his paper on British elms (2002).[5]
Melville's brief description, at the end of a paragraph onPlot Elm in a 1948 paper, of "a second small-leaved elm, as yet unnamed, found in the lower Thames Valley and East Anglia", that "shares some of the curious features of the Plot Elm but lacks its graceful habit",[6] may be a reference to his aff. 'Plotii'.
Plot-like field elms have also been observed inU. minor fringe areas outside England.[2][1]
Elms of the aff. 'Plotii' group "are very close to Plot Elm and have a number of characteristics of the 'type', but their crowns are too broad and regular to match 'true Plot'."[7] They are characterised by some or all of the following diagnostic features: a mature crown of unilateral habit; short shoots that produce more than five leaves in a flush; subequal cordate leaf base; and red club-shaped glandular hairs on leaf surface.
The trees are susceptible toDutch elm disease, but as they produce abundant root-suckers immature specimens probably survive in their areas of origin.
A few Plot-like field elms have entered cultivation (see 'Accessions' below).
Two trees formerly labelledU. minor subsp. minor ×U. minor var.lockii, and referred to in Coleman (2000) as 'pseudo-Plotii',[4] that stand (2025) in theRoyal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh, have been identified on the RBGE database asU. minor 'Umbraculifera Gracilis'.[9] An elm cultivar of the same clone and similar age, also formerly known asU. aff. 'Plotii',[7] stands on Whitehouse Loan,Bruntsfield Links, Edinburgh.[10]
This group of elms is likely to hybridize in the wild both withwych elm and withU. minor.
