| Ulmus glabra 'Nitida' | |
|---|---|
.jpg) | |
| Species | Ulmus glabra |
| Cultivar | 'Nitida' |
| Origin | Sweden |
Thewych elmcultivarUlmus glabra 'Nitida' [:'shining', an allusion to the smooth upper surface of the leaves[2]], thesmooth glossy-leaved wych, was described byFries from specimens collected by P. C. Afzelius in 1841 on the island ofStora Karlsö, Sweden,[1] asUlmus montana nitida, inNovitiae Florae Suecicae: continuatio, sistens Mantissam III: 20 (1842).[3][4][5] TheNovitiae Florae Gotlandicae (1844) confirmedU. montana f.nitidaFr. as present on the islands ofStora Karlsö and neighbouringLilla Karlsö offGotland, Sweden, but did not report it from Gotland proper.[6][1] A Stora Karlsö specimen from the HerbariumE. Fries is preserved in the Botanical Museum ofUppsala.[1] The tree was listed byRehder asU. glabraHuds. f.nitida (1915),[3][7] a designation adopted by Krüssmann (1984), the latter copying Rehder's 'Norway' provenance error.[5]
A smooth-leaved wych occasionally appeared in collections outside Scandinavia.[8]Syme inEnglish Botany; or, Coloured Figures of British Plants. Volume VIII (1868) included anU. montana var.nitida.[9]
U. minor is present on Gotland,[10] leaving open the possibility that Fries'sUlmus montana nitida was not pure wych.
Krüssmann described f.nitida as having "leaves smooth above" and glabrous young shoots.[5][11] An 1895 herbarium specimen from Lilla Karlsö shows a typical wych leaf with a short petiole, and a samara with seed on stalk side of centre, a feature of unhybridised wych.
Sowerby described var.nitida as having "all the essential characteristics ofU. montana" [wych elm] but with leaves "shining and glabrous above".[9] Ley (1910) noted that in theKew specimen the samara was "rounder at the point than in the type", with the "notch distinct, its basal angle acute, reaching more than one-fifth [of the] way to [the] seed cavity".[8]
See under wych elm.
The tree was planted in the streets ofSkanör, Sweden, in the 19th century.[1] 'Nitida' was described by Rehder (1915) as a form present in Norway (probably an error for Sweden) "and perhaps also in England".[3] It was cultivated at Kew in the early 20th century asUlmus scabra (glabra), the smooth-leaved wych, where it was described by Ley (1910), who had not seen it growing naturally in England.[8] He later, however, prepared a herbarium specimen of a similar wych elm fromEdmondsham, Dorset.[12]Elwes andHenry do not mention the Kew specimen in their 1913 work.[13]