The elm cultivar Ulmus Densa was described from specimens growing near AshkabadasU. densa Litv.inSchedae ad Herbarium Florae Rossicae (1908).[1] Litvinov, reporting it growing wild in the mountains of Turkestan, Ferghana, and Aksu, as well as in cultivation, considered it a species, a view upheld by the Soviet publications Trees and Shrubs in the USSR (1951)[2] and Flora of Armenia (1962),[3] and by some current plant lists.[4][5][note 1] Other authorities take it to be a form of U minor, distinctive only in its dense crown and upright branching.[6][7][8] The Moscow State University herbarium gives (2020) Ulmus minor as the "accepted name" of U. densa Litv..[9][10]
Litvinov considered U. minor 'Umbraculifera', with its "denser crown and more rounded form", a cultivar of U. densa,[6] calling it U. densa var. bubyriana. Rehder (1949) and Green (1964), ignoring reports of the wild form, considered U. densa a synonym of 'Umbraculifera'.[11][12] The U. densa photographed by Meyer in Aksu, Chinese Turkestan on his 1911-12 expedition does not appear to be the tidy grafted cultivar 'Umbraculifera' and was said to be named 'Seda'.[13][14] Zielińksi in Flora Iranica (1979) considered 'Umbraculifera' an U. minor cultivar.[15]
In its natural range U. densa overlaps with U. pumila. The extent of hybridization between the two is not known.
Litvinov noted that the tree "differed little from U. glabra Mill." [:U. minor][16] except in its erect branches and dense oblong crown.[17] The leaves were "generally smaller" [18] and the branches "smooth and lighter in colour". As with the hybrid U. × androssowii, its compact branch structure helps the tree conserve moisture.[19]
Not known.
Litvinov said that U. densa was "widely cultivated" in gardens in Turkestan. It is one of a number of elms known locally as 'karagach' or 'karagatch' [:'black tree' = elm].[20][21][22] In western Europe U. densa Litv. was distributed by Hesse's Nurseries, Weener, Germany, in the 1930s.[23]
A large, well-grown specimen stands in Dushanbe Botanic Gardens, Tajikistan (2019).[24][25]
These include one of the oldest of elm cultivars, 'Umbraculifera', and a number of elms introduced to the West by the Späth nurseryofBerlin.
Meyer (1912) identified three cultivars of U. densa: 'Stamboul', 'Kitaisky' and 'Seda'.[26][14]
The tree, or its cultivar form 'Umbraculifera', has hybridised with U. pumila to produce U. × androssowii.
None known.
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