Ulmus laevis 'Colorans'

The European White Elm cultivar Ulmus laevis 'Colorans' was listed as U. effusa (: laevis) var. colorans by Kirchner^[1] in Petzold^[2] & Kirchner, Arboretum Muscaviense (1864).^[3]

Ulmus laevis 'Colorans'
Species	Ulmus laevis
Cultivar	'Colorans'
Origin	Europe

Peter Shaw Green (1964) suggested that Herder's U. campestris Linn. rubescens, described in Gartenflora (1871),^[4] by its name a wych elm cultivar with "reddening leaves", from Yelagin Island, may have been an earlier listing of a 'Colorans'-type U. laevis under a mistaken species name.^[5]

Description

The tree was described by Kirchner as having leaves turning a rich scarlet red in autumn, not golden yellow.^[3][5]

•  
  Red autumn leaves, U. laevis

Cultivation

'Colorans' was rare in cultivation. Kirchner planted two specimens in the Arboretum Muscaviense.^[3] A tree said to be of this type stood near Hailsham, East Sussex, UK (on the Cuckoo Trail); regrowth from it survives there (2006). The tree is not known to remain in cultivation elsewhere.

Synonymy

• Ulmus effusa var. rubescens: Schwerin,^[6] Mitteilungen der Deutschen dendrologischen gesellschaft 20: 423, 1911.^[7]
• Ulmus pedunculata (: laevis) var. erubescens: Elwes,^[8] in Elwes, H. J. & Henry, A. (1913). The Trees of Great Britain & Ireland. Vol. VII.^[9]
• (?) U. campestris Linn. rubescens: Herder Gartenflora 20: 347 1871.^[4]

References

1. kiki.huh.harvard.edu [1]
2. kiki.huh.harvard.edu [2]
3. Petzold, Carl; Kirchner, Georg (1864). Arboretum Muscaviense. p. 559.
4. Gartenflora 20 (1871) p.347
5. Green, Peter Shaw (1964). "Registration of cultivar names in Ulmus". Arnoldia. Arnold Arboretum, Harvard University. 24 (6–8): 41–80. Retrieved 16 February 2017.
6. harvard.edu
7. Mitteilungen der Deutschen Dendrologischen Gesellschaft (1911), p.423
8. harvard.edu
9. Elwes, Henry John; Henry, Augustine (1913). The Trees of Great Britain & Ireland. Vol. 7. pp. 1851–1855. Republished 2004 Cambridge University Press, ISBN 9781108069380