page_title: Ulmus minor 'Sarniensis'
section_title: Cultivation
hierarchical_section_title: Ulmus minor 'Sarniensis' / Cultivation
caption_attribution_description: English: Panorama of Edinburgh from Edinburgh Castle (with the 105mm Light Gun for "the one o'clock gun" time signal on the extreme left) Deutsch: Panorama von der Edinburgher Neustadt vom "Edinburgh Castle" (mit der sog. "one o'clock gun" ganz links oben)
context_page_description: The Field Elm cultivar Ulmus minor 'Sarniensis', known variously as Guernsey Elm, Jersey Elm, Wheatley Elm, or Southampton Elm, was first described by MacCulloch in 1815 from trees on Guernsey, and was planted in the Royal Horticultural Society's gardens in the 1820s. It was listed in the Loddiges catalogue of 1836 as Ulmus sarniensis and by Loudon in Hortus lignosus londinensis as U. campestris var. sarniensis. The origin of the tree remains obscure; Richens believed it "a mutant of a French population of Field elm", noting that "elms of similar leaf-form occur in Cotentin and in northern Brittany. They vary much in habit but some have a tendency to pyramidal growth. Whether the distinctive habit first developed on the mainland or in Guernsey is uncertain."
  Melville, believing the cultivar a hybrid between Cornish Elm U. minor 'Stricta' and Dutch Elm Ulmus × hollandica, adopted the name U. × sarniensis Bancroft. Its clonal origin is suspected rather than proved, but the apparent uniformity of this taxon makes it likely to be a clone. A number of specimens in northern Britain were DNA-tested in 2013 by Forest Research, Roslin, Midlothian, and were found to be the same clone.
context_section_description: With its light, upcurving branches, Guernsey Elm never became a danger, unlike English Elm, which sometimes shed heavy lateral boughs. This fact, and its compact form, made it ideal for street planting. The tree was popular in Britain, where it was widely cultivated. Dutch elm disease has, however, now destroyed nearly all the mature trees in England save a few in Brighton, Bridlington, Peasholm Park, Scarborough and a single tree in Skegness. Around a hundred mature specimens still survive in Edinburgh, Scotland (2013). It was introduced to Osborne House on the Isle of Wight by Albert the Prince Consort, where it survives today as suckers along the lane leading to Barton Manor Farm. Guernsey Elm was also planted in large numbers across Amsterdam, but eventually replaced by the similarly fastigiate but much more disease-resistant clone, 'Columella'. 
  One tree, supplied by the Späth nursery, was planted in 1897 as U. campestris sarniensis at the Dominion Arboretum, Ottawa, Canada. 'Sarniensis' was introduced to the United States, featuring in the 1904 catalogue of  Frederick W. Kelsey as Ulmus Wheatlyi. In the catalogue of the Plumfield Nursery of Fremont, Nebraska, 1934, its origin was given as Holland. It was described as "a round-headed tree with small glossy leaves, [which] hybridized with American White Elm" (:Ulmus americana), a crossing that would seem unlikely given the ploidy differences. 'Sarniensis' remains in cultivation in the Morton Arboretum. The Ulmus monumentalis introduced to Australia in 1873 is thought to have been 'Sarniensis'.
caption: The dark cones of Guernsey Elm dominate Edinburgh's Princes Street Garden (2009)
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