Rare elms found

[fairplay]

Snippet from yesterdays Daily Telegraph:

A rare species of Elm has been discovered growing on an island in the middle of a Gloucester lake.
The four Smooth-Leaved Elms growing on three islands in Bowmoor Lake near Lechlade are among only 115 examples of the species to have been recorded in the UK by the Woodland Trust's Ancient Tree Hunt.

Ben Pollard, ecology manager of the estate which owns Bowmoor Lake, said it was a mystery how the trees had survived. "Perhaps the have been protected from infection by the quarrying of the surrounding ground, or perhaps our trees are naturally resistant," he said.

Elms are notoriously difficult to identify and it took more than a year to establish the species
Neil.

[Dorts]

That's a great find. The Small (Smooth)-leaved Elm - Ulmus minor subsp. minor is not a species I'm able to distinguish from the others.
It would seem from the distribution map that it is still to be found in the East Midlands and down by the Sussex coast.
BSBI Maps Scheme: Hectad Map

Wiki has a piece about it here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulmus_minor_subsp._minor
Dorts.

[The Woodman]

Very interesting and what an appropriate name for an ecological manager dealing with trees!

[Equinox]

I doubt they have some immunity,more likely lucky.

Many native trees were planted along a main highway near me in the 1920's,each tree had a plaque with the name of a local man who died in the great war.
I should point out that the plaques were not fixed directly to the trees but to a cage that surrounded them.
The trees burst through the cages long ago and i only remember the cages that surrounded Rowans.

Anyway,back to topic.Quite a few of these trees were Elms,and while most of them succumbed to Dutch Elm Disease in the seventies,others lingered on.

A huge tree stood near us until the summer before last when it showed bare branches in July.
It was felled the following year.
There may be a couple of more survivors along the highway,but there time is marked.

I would say the group of Elms mentioned have been fortunate,or maybe their isolation has bought them some time.

[tjhavenith]

Hi,

I've been reading 'A Brush with Nature' by Richard Mabey. One of the topics is the Elm tree. He mentions that Elm in some locations seem to be immune to Dutch Elm disease, notably Boxworth.

I just did a quick search online and found that there is 'The Great Elm Experiment' using Elm from Boxworth and a few selected other locations. If you're interested, there is further information here:
The great elm experiment (From The Oxford Times)

Tim

[Ruralman]

The smooth leaved elm (ulmus minor var. minor) in itself is a very common tree in the UK, due to the ability of trees to sucker profusely from the roots even after the main tree has been killed by dutch elm disease, and the 115 mentioned above will refer to mature specimens, which are indeed rare. It’s encouraging to learn of new finds of possibly resistant trees.

I was once in correspondence with member of TROBI, who informed me that surviving mature ulmus minor (as a whole- not just smooth leaved elm) is not very rare in certain parts of the country such as East Anglia; in fact he suggested that something like 5 to 10 percent of individuals may be resistant in certain areas.

There’s also, of course, the possibility that the trees are simply unappetising to the vector beetle, but a study done in France:

http://www.prodinra.inra.fr/prodinra...0022531318.pdf

on cuttings of surviving mature ulmus minor there suggest that about 94 percent (only 6% mortality) were indeed strongly resistant to the fungus.

[Dorts]

Originally Posted by Ruralman

The smooth leaved elm (ulmus minor var. minor) in itself is a very common tree in the UK, due to the ability of trees to sucker profusely from the roots even after the main tree has been killed by dutch elm disease, and the 115 mentioned above will refer to mature specimens, which are indeed rare. It’s encouraging to learn of new finds of possibly resistant trees.

I was once in correspondence with member of TROBI, who informed me that surviving mature ulmus minor (as a whole- not just smooth leaved elm) is not very rare in certain parts of the country such as East Anglia; in fact he suggested that something like 5 to 10 percent of individuals may be resistant in certain areas.

There’s also, of course, the possibility that the trees are simply unappetising to the vector beetle, but a study done in France:

http://www.prodinra.inra.fr/prodinra...0022531318.pdf

on cuttings of surviving mature ulmus minor there suggest that about 94 percent (only 6% mortality) were indeed strongly resistant to the fungus.

An interesting addition to this thread Ruralman, thanks, and welcome to WAB.
Yes, there are indeed many Elms of various kinds still happily surviving in hedgerows around the country. Though of course, as soon as a mature bark is formed, the tree will be attacked and the wood will die leaving the suckers to start the cycle again.
Dorts.