"Elm Heritage of the Sussex Coast" booklet

Elm heritage of
the Sussex Coast
by Mary Parker
Contents
Introduction
3
Elm species
4
Elm history
9
Dutch elm disease
12
Elms and Wildlife
18
Human Use
19
Elms in Art
21
Elms in Poetry
21
Future of Elms
22
Taxanomic names of elms
23
The research and design of this publication was funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund
T
he area between Shoreham and Eastbourne has the world’s largest population of mature English elms and the City of Brighton and Hove has been designated as having the National Elm Collection. Not only visitors but residents also
are often unaware of this unique heritage but are invariably pleased to learn of
it.
The salt-wind resistant elm trees are a distinctive feature of the coastal towns
and are a major component of the copses and hedgerows of the Ouse and Cuckmere river valleys. Elms are vigorous and fast-growing, thriving on chalk soils and
capable of withstanding pollution as well as salt winds. Therefore they can grow
where few other trees can survive which makes them invaluable as a means of
enhancing the landscape.
There is only one real threat to elm trees and that is Dutch elm disease (DED)
to which they have little resistance and in recent decades it has devastated them
throughout northern Europe. When the disease arrived in Britain there was a
strong incentive to try to contain it. Nevertheless, an estimated 28 million elms
have been lost to Dutch elm disease throughout the UK. Fortunately, the treeless
South Downs and the sea have provided a protective barrier to windblown infection along the Sussex coast.
For over 40 years the local authorities have invested many hundreds of thousands of pounds to protect elm trees from the onslaught of Dutch elm disease. At
least 40,000 elm trees are to be found on the Sussex coast.
Elm species
Elms belong in the order Urticales and are therefore related to cannabis, mulberries and stinging nettles. Like stinging nettles, all elm species have simple, toothed
leaves, with a central vein. Apart from that, the leaves vary in size, shape and
texture; they can be narrow or almost as wide as long, usually asymmetrical at
the base. The bark varies from relatively smooth to deeply furrowed, or it may be
divided into squarish plates. The colour of the bark varies from greyish through
rusty brown to dark brown. The crown can be narrow or broad, tightly branched
or spreading. These subtle differences make it difficult for inexperienced people to
recognise an elm other than the type with which they are familiar. However, elms
share one unusual characteristic which is the formation of an inner bark between
the wood and the outer bark.
Elms are widely distributed in the temperate regions and although the small
winged seeds are usually infertile, they nevertheless have the ability to hybridise
and as a result there are at present some 380 named or numbered species, subspecies, hybrids, clones and varieties. They are taxonomically very complicated
and taxonomists frequently re-classify them.
The English elm is probably the most well known. Its distinctive thundercloud
shape having drawn the attention of many landscape artists. The leaves are round,
smaller than many other elm species, dark green and rough to the touch.. The
bark is yellowish and knobbly in saplings; brown and furrowed in mature trees.
English elms regenerate by suckers which means that many stands of elms may be
all one living entity sharing a common root system. Places to see English elms are:
Cathedral Walk, Lullington; Winton Street bridleway north of Alfriston; junction
of Blatchington Hill and Belgrave Road, Seaford; Kingsmead Gardens, Seaford; the
famous ‘twins’ at Preston Park, Brighton. Nearly everywhere you look in Brighton
there are elm trees including many rarities
The Wych elm has long, spreading branches. The bark of the upper, younger
branches is relatively smooth hence its Latin name glabra which means smooth.
However, the bark is furrowed on the main stem.
The dull green leaves can be quite large and are distinctive in the way that the
base of the leaf spreads across the short stalk. Many of the leaves are shouldered,
i.e. they are at their widest forward of the mid point.
Wych elms are most often found in woods and parks. There are several along the
lane leading to the waterworks at Friston, Also at Rookery Wood and alongside the
road at Bishopstone and at Queen’s Park, Brighton. The Golden wych elm is relatively rare but some fine specimens can be found at Dyke Road Place, Brighton.
Horizontal Weeping elms are a sub type of Wych elm with similar characteristics except that their secondary branches hang down from the exposed main
branches.
The Camperdown elm is also a weeping type of Wych elm such as this tree at
Hamsey Lane, Seaford. Another weeping form of wych elm is the Serpentine which
has trailing and twisted branches.
A Camperdown elm in Seaford, Serpentine elm in Jevington,
and Golden elms at Dyke Road Place, Brighton (credit: Peter Bourne).
The Wheatley elm also called Jersey or Guernsey Elm. Their tall, single stems
rise to the top with short, upright branches thus making them the most favoured
street trees. The small leaves are dark, smooth and shiny. The platey bark is a
greyish brown. There are several large Wheatleys at Chyngton Way, Seaford, and
at Preston Park, Brighton. Two Wheatley elms guard the entrance to the Victoria
Hospital, Lewes. The tallest, champion elm (33m) is at Paradise Park, Eastbourne.
Wheatley elms at Shirley Drive, Hove, champion Wheatley at
Paradise Park and the leaves and bark of a Wheatley elm.
The Huntingdon elm is also known as the Chichester elm. The light green, shiny
leaves are large with a long pointed tip and a very asymmetrical base. The bark
has deep, criss-crossing furrows. Excellent examples can be found at Grays school,
Brook Rd, Newhaven (below) with a trunk diameter of 127cms. The champion tallest is alongside the waterworks road, Friston being 30m high. Another Huntingdon
is in Crouch Gardens, Seaford.
Cornish elms are tall with upright branches. The small, oval leaves are a smooth,
light green. The pinkish brown bark has flattish, furrows. There are several large
Cornish elms near the church at Selmeston, including a pair of leaning Cornish
elms at Sherrington Manor, Selmeston, which can be seen from a nearby footpath.
They have been leaning ever since the big storm of 1987.
The Dutch elm is a very variable, naturally occurring hybrid. Usually, a large
suckering tree with widespread branches. Leaves have a long point and are very
uneven at the base. Twigs and branches are often ribbed or ‘corky’. There is a
Dutch elm at Cedar Gardens beside the London Road, Brighton and several Dutch
elms grow in Hartfield Square, Eastbourne.
An example of corky bark.
Smooth-leaved Elm also known as the field elm.
A graceful open-crowned tree. The shiny dark
green leaves are very unequal at the base
and are distinctively double-toothed.
Left: A champion smooth-leaved elm at
Hove museum.
The Lobel is a recently introduced elm which is
has a high level of resistance to DED. It has a
fairly upright growth. Five hundred have been
planted along the streets in Brighton and
Hove. A particularly fine specimen grows
in East Street, Brighton. Several young Lobels have been planted in Kings Drive, Eastbourne.
Left: Lobel at at the Clergy House, Alfriston
Sapporo Autumn Gold is a hybrid which has a high level of resistance to DED.
It is a medium sized tree with dark, glossy leaves that are unusually equal at the
base. Several have been planted in Blakers Park, Brighton.
Sapporo Autumn Gold at Friston Church, and leaves.
Elm history
Elm pollen has been found in geological deposits dating back before the last ice
age - 100,000 years ago.
The Wych elm is considered to be the only true native elm because it reached
Britain between 9,600 and 7,500 years ago by crossing the land bridge which still
existed between mainland Europe and Britain after the last ice age. Elm pollen has
been found in early post glacial deposits in the flood plain just south of Lewes. It
spread rapidly northwards, along with oak, alder and lime, and became the dominant species over most of England.
During the Neolithic period i.e. 5,000 to 6,000 years ago there was a steep fall in
the amount of elm pollen in geological deposits in this country and all over northwestern Europe. The cause of this elm decline is not known but several theories
have been widely argued:
1) It was not due to climate as there was no decline in species such as ivy and mistletoe. Furthermore, ash pollen increased at this time.
2) Neolithic farmers might have fed elm leaves preferentially to cattle kept in stalls
as there was little grassland at that time. But, one might ask why, if ash was on the
increase, was that not fed as well? Why work hard to keep animals in stalls when
vast areas of land were freely available?
3) Neolithic farmers must have felled trees in order to grow cereals. Elms might
have been cleared more than other trees because Neolithic farmers lived on dry
hills where elms predominated as oak, lime and ash prefer clay vales. But elm
wood is very hard and does not split, making it a difficult tree to fell, nor is the
wood much use as fire wood as it does not burn readily. Could it not be that their
livestock, mainly goats, were put into pens at night just as sheep were folded until
recent times to protect them from hungry wolves? It is well known that when
livestock graze among trees they strip the bark thereby killing the standing trees.
By building the pens around elm trees, the process could have been rapid and effortless.
Goats eating elm leaves and damage to bark from livestock
4) Maybe Dutch elm disease is the only cause sufficiently powerful and specific to
have had such an effect on elms while other tree populations remained stable. If
bark-damaged, dying trees were left standing, this would have favoured a population explosion of the beetle that carries the disease and which breeds under
the bark of dying elms. Open farmland and trackways would have enabled these
beetles to spread far and wide. Nevertheless, although the disease-carrying elm
bark beetles have been found in 5,000 year-old elm wood, there appears to be no
record of the actual fungal pathogen having been found.
In later historic times elms have been brought here from Europe by human effort. The distribution of smooth-leaved elm pollen is closely associated with Iron
Age settlements which suggests a link.
As English elms mainly reproduce by suckers, their movement northwards as
the glaciers retreated after the last ice age, would have been slow. They could not
have crossed the landbridge between France and England before the sea burst
through creating the English Channel. They are generally believed to have been
brought here by the Romans who coppiced their long, straight, fast-growing suckers (poles) as supports for their grape vines.
10
Left: Fast growing English elm suckers.
The Cornish elm is thought to have been
brought from Brittany in the 9th century.
This tall tree provided the 32ft (9.8m) timbers needed for building the Cornish pilot
gigs - boats used to take pilots out to guide
incoming vessels into harbour.
Throughout the Middle Ages the forest
retreated from the pressure of farming and
settlement. The English elms, by regenerating by growing suckers from their roots, survived along roadsides and colonized waste
land where the habitat was often not ideal
for regeneration by seeds.
It was not until the the 16th and 17th
century that landscape gardeners such as
“Capability” Brown and Humphry Repton
began to cultivate new hybrids and cultivars
like the Dutch and Huntingdon elms. The Dutch elm may have been brought here
by Prince William of Orange when he succeeded to the English throne in 1689.
The enclosures of the 18th century resulted in a huge extension of hedgerows
where the suckering English elm thrived again because of its advantage over seedlings.
During the 19th century, Wheatley elms were imported from the Channel Isles
to be planted alongside roads and avenues where their upright form would not
hinder passing traffic.
By the early 20th century hybrids such as Golden, Weeping, Camperdown (from
Camperdown Park, Dundee) and many others graced parks and gardens throughout the land.
By the end of the 20th century most large elms had disappeared in all but a few
areas where the menace of Dutch elm disease had been controlled, such as along
the Sussex coast, or where the climate was cooler as in northern Scotland.
Attention has been focused in recent decades towards producing DED resistant elms such Lobel and Sapporo Autumn Gold. The latter was produced in Japan
by crossing the Chinese elm with the Siberian elm. So far these two species have
resisted infection.
11
Dutch elm disease
Infection is caused by the fungus Ophiostoma novo-ulmi which is carried by the
Scolytus scolytus beetle (sometimes called the elm bark beetle). These beetles
emerge from infected trees in Spring when temperatures reach 20oC and fly at a
height of about 20ft (6m). They bite into elm twigs to feed on the inner bark. As
they do so, the fungal spores enter and then spread in the tree’s water vessels
(xylem) which causes a biochemical reaction that results in the vessels becoming
blocked. This stops transpiration i.e. the upward movement of water that leaves
need in order to survive.
The Scolytus beetle and a feeding wound.
Very soon the leaves above the feeding wound wilt, then turn yellow and die.
The infection travels along the branch and all over the tree and so it dies progressively but surely. In a cool climate, a large tree may take as long as two years .In
Sussex, smaller elms die in only a few months.
As the tree dies, the still sappy bark provides a breeding ground for the, by
then, well nourished beetles seeking somewhere to reproduce. The eggs, laid by
the female beetles in the under bark during the summer, develop into grubs which
soon emerge as full grown beetles. In the south of England, long warm summers
can enable two generations to be produced in one year.
Elm wilting (credit: Forestry Commission), beetle galleries, and larvae emerging
12
It is a three-way relationship between host, vector, and pathogen but it is not
ecologically symbiotic as the beetle can survive without the fungus and elm trees
certainly can survive without it! The Scolytus laevis beetle lived on the Isle of Man
with no Ophiostoma fungus there and no Dutch elm disease (DED) until the year
2000 when, it is believed, infected timber was imported enabling the disease to
establish.
Although DED is mainly spread by Scolytus beetles, it can move from tree to
tree in other ways. Because English elms regenerate through their roots, a clump
or line of elms is one living organism connected by its root system. Therefore once
DED infection reaches a tree’s roots, it will spread along this common root system,
and all the connected elms will die.
The History of Dutch elm disease
It is thought that the disease may have originated in Asia but no proof has ever
been found. It was first seen in Europe at Picardy in northern France, 1918. Then
in Belgium, Holland and Germany. At that time, when the first world war ended,
there was an open landscape with many damaged and dying trees. These could
have provided a wealth of breeding grounds for Scolytus beetles. Any small pockets of
previously unrecognised elm disease could very soon have been spread far and wide.
The disease is called Dutch elm disease because it was in Holland that it was first
studied. In Britain Dutch elm disease was first recorded in 1927 at Totteridge Hall,
Herfordshire. Soon it spread north to a line from Chester to Hull. The epidemic
peaked in 1936.
A 1917 landscape of dieing trees at
Chateau Wood, Belgium (credit: © IWM (E(AUS) 1220))
The organism that caused the disease then was called Ceratocystis ulmi later
renamed Ophiostoma ulmi. A feature of that epidemic was that the infection was
not so deadly. Many trees were able to recover and make new growth to replace
dead branches. Therefore the disease then was not regarded as such a catastrophic problem as the present-day strain.
DED reached America and was first recorded in Ohio in 1930. It soon spread
across the whole of the USA and much of Canada. Somewhere in the Mid West a
genetic mutation naturally occurred and a more aggressive strain appeared. This
was named Ohiostoma novo-ulmi.
The disease returned to Britain during the 1960s in the more deadly form. It was
first recognised in Tewkesbury in 1965. During the 1970s there were outbreaks
in London, Portsmouth, Southampton and Bristol - all places where timber was
imported. In 1973 a customs officer at Southampton found live beetle larvae in a
shipment of elm logs from Toronto.
By 1978, 70% of the 23 million elms in southern England had died. The disease
advanced irrevocably as far north as Inverness and Aberdeen. It reached the Isle.
of Man in the year 2000. By end of the 20th century 25 million elms had been
lost.
Controlling Dutch elm disease
During the 1950s an insecticide called DDT (Dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethane)
was sprayed on elms in the USA. Unfortunately it killed much other wildlife as
well as scolytus beetles and it was eventually banned.
In England the Plant Health Act 1967 and the Dutch Elm Disease (Local Authorities) Order 1984 enables local authorities to set up control zones and appoint officers with the power to order the felling and disposal of infected elms and to treat
or take steps to prevent the spread of the disease but the order to prevent the
movement of firewood was rescinded in 1995.
Sanitation control zones were set up and in Sussex it stretched from the River
Adur to the Pevensey Levels. With the sea to the south and the treeless Downs to
the north stringently enforced control measures were effective in keeping infection to a low level. The felling of infected trees limits the population of Scolytus
beetles by denying them suitable breeding sites.
Vigilance is essential. The first symptom is a small, patch of slightly wilting leaves
high up in the crown of the tree. A problem arises in cool, wet weather when
leaves do not wilt. Then, when the next hot, dry day occurs, the wilt can suddenly
be seen as extensive. To save the tree, it is essential that such an aerial be removed
immediately. The infected branch must be cut off at least 3m below the furthest
point of the slight staining seen spreading along the underwood.
14
Once the disease has travelled along the branch
to the trunk, it is too late to save the tree. It has to be
felled. Felling is not always straight forward. There can
be problems with cattle, steep banks, roads, buildings,
fences, inclusions, power lines, even rubbish.
The presence of power lines is a frequent and potentially dangerous problem
for tree surgeons. If the power is to be turned off, the affected households must
be given seven days notice. It is usual for the electricity workers to cover the wires
with protective sleeves.
Once the bark has been removed, the remaining timber is not only sound in
itself but cannot then become a source of infection. The trunk can be sold to the
sawmill destined to be made into quality furniture. Smaller logs are burned or
chipped. It is important not to leave them lying around for people to collect as
firewood. From time to time field officers confiscate firewood containing elm logs
but usually re-imburse the owner with some better firewood. (Elm does not burn
very well.)
On rare occasions an infected tree cannot be felled. Then beetle traps can be
set up baited with a cocktail of beetle and host tree pheromones to attract flying
beetles. Very occasionally a dying tree in an open position might be left standing
so as to attract beetles. After a few weeks it is felled and burned thereby disposing
of a large number of breeding beetles.
A big problem with English elms is the fact that their roots are all connected so
that infection travels underground from one elm to neighbouring elms. This sometimes occurs in other species of elms where their roots rub against one another.
15
For this reason an infected tree is ring-barked (girdling as it is sometimes called)
to prevent the fungus reaching the roots. As ring barking kills the tree by stopping
the upward transmission of water, field officers have to be very certain of their
diagnosis. They can strip a length of bark off a twig or branch and look for the feint
pinkish, brownish staining of the underwood that is proof of DED. By the time the
tree has died, the stains become almost black.
Stained underwood and a ring barked tree
Once the disease reaches the roots there are measures that can be taken to
prevent root transmission. Trenches can be dug to sever the roots. However, this is
not practical where there are buildings, steep slopes or roads. This was overcome
at one time by injecting a chemical called Seratotect into the ground. But this was
banned some twenty years ago by the Environment Agency. Small elms can be
winched out of the ground to break the roots.
Injecting a chemical into small, unimportant neighbouring elms so as to kill them and interrupt the
root connections has also been an effective
way to prevent DED running along a line of
hedgerow elms and so reaching bigger elms
further along.
At one time important trees were injected with a fungicide e.g Lignasan, Ceratatect,
Arbotect. This would counteract any invasion
of the Ophiostoma novo-ulmi fungus. However, this was only a preventative measure and
was not curative. Because trees grow new water
vessels every year, the injections had to be carried
out every year.
As well as the cost of the fungicide, the process had to be
monitored and, as it took all day, staffing was expensive. The injection holes were
16
also unsightly and damaging. As a result the use of preventative injections has
been mostly discontinued.
A more recent preventative process that has been developed in Holland is called
Dutch Trig. It is an isolate of the spores of another fungus - Vertillium albo-atrium
- which is injected into elms to induce resistance to infection. There is no need for
the liquid to spread throughout the tree so sufficient uptake takes just a few minutes. Also the injection holes are much smaller than the holes needed for previous
injection fluids. However, the fluid, the equipment and the technicians’ time all
mount up to a substantial cost that needs to be repeated every year.
Not Dutch elm disease
There are many situations where elms can appear to have DED and can confuse
the inexperienced ( or even experienced) observer.
On a hot summer day leaves at the top of any tree may wilt. This is known as
mid-day wilt. The fact that it is so widespread across the crown yet has not developed beyond the wilt stage is a clue to its identity.
Squirrels sometimes sit on one branch and gnaw through the bark on the adjoining branch. This is recognisable because the foliage goes abruptly from bright
green below to dead brown above the wound.
A squirrel’s bite injury and the yellower Lamas growth.
In August, elms sometimes make secondary twig and leaf growth known as Lamas growth. This foliage is a paler, yellower green than normal. Although distinctly
yellow the leaves below will be a healthy green.
Bonfire burn is quite often seen. People light their fires too close to their trees.
At first sight it can look very like DED but the foliage goes brown on just one side
of the tree. Unless very severly damaged, regrowth occurs after a few weeks.
Salt winds, which are very damaging to most species of trees, only cause temporary leaf damage to elms. The browned leaves are always found on the seaward
17
side of the tree after strong winds from that direction.
Livestock often chew the bark of any tree that
they can reach. If the damage encircles the tree,
it will die. Elm yellows (left) is a type of infection
caused by phytoplasma bacterium which badly
affects American and Asian elms. Fortunately, it
is rarely detrimental to most species of elms in
the UK. The yellowing of the leaves rarely spreads
beyond one branch. Even the rare event of an elm
setting copious seeds has been known to cause alarm
in May as they can make a tree appear brown all over.
Elms and Wildlife
There a number of species that rely on healthy elms for their survival. In particular
the White Letter Hairstreak butterfly feeds almost exclusively on the leaves of
English, Dutch and wych elms. It has been recorded in several places recently in
the Cuckmere and Ouse valleys, Selmeston, Seaford and Lewes.
To a lesser degree elms also provide an important habitat for the Dusky Lemon
Sallow moth, the larvae of which feed on flowers, seeds and leaves of English and
wych elms. It can still be found in Sussex.
The Lunar-Spotted Pinion moth, whose larvae can feed on other trees and
shrubs as well as elm tree leaves, may still be found in Sussex although its numbers
fluctuate from year to year.
The nutrient-rich, alkaline, water retentive and rough bark of elms make them
an important habitat for many lichens. For two Biological Action Plan (BAP) priority
species of lichen - the Orange Fruited Elm lichen and Eagles Claw lichen - the elm
is one of the very few trees on which they can survive. They particularly need big,
old English elms in a pollution-free rural setting. Nowadays, these rare lichens are
becoming ever more rare.
An orange lichen can often be seen on elms but it is most likely to be Xanthoria,
a lichen commonly found on gravestones.
Other lichens associated with elms are the Sap Groove lichen and Shy Cross Your
Heart lichen. The ash has a similar bark composition to elm, allowing these species
to survive in other parts of the country but now the ash too is under threat! The
Branching Oyster fungus that thrives on dead elm wood is less plentiful now.
18
A White-letter hairstreak butterfly (credit: Ian Kirk), it’s
larvae and a Lunar spotted moth (credit: Heidrun Melzer)
Human Use
Rare species of elms have often been planted in prominent positions to commemorate important events. A rare Coritanian elm at the junction of Kings Ride and
Deans Road in Alfriston was recently felled. It had growth rings suggesting that it
was probably planted round about 1920. Maybe it was planted to celebrate the
end of World War 1. No-one seems to know for sure.
The Chinese elm is the favoured species for bonsai because it is fast growing and
tolerant of adverse growing conditions. It has very small leaves which it can often
retain throughout most of the winter.
Seasoned elm wood is extremely resistant to splitting and so it is the favoured
wood for cart wheel hubs which are still being made in workshops at Heathfield
and elsewhere.
In churches, elm wood was sometimes used for the headstocks of bells due to
its strength. There is an elm ladder leading up to the belfry of St. John’s Church at
Piddinghoe. The 20 crossbars are all one foot (30cms) apart. The central column is
entirely one length of a young elm tree that was split lengthways. Elm has recently
be used to repair the brake wheel in the windmill at Hurstmonceux.
An elm ladder in Piddinghoe church, Hurstmonceux windmill, and the brake wheel
(credit: Geoff Berry)
Elm wood has for long been used for making Windsor chairs where the spokes
of the back rest are inserted into the seat. They were also often used for making
bows when the favoured yew was not available.
Elm wood is resistant to rot when kept permanently wet. As a result it is much
used for structures in waterways although not in tidal zones as the wood will not
withstand wetting and drying. When Waterloo Bridge was demolished in 1936 the
piles were of sound elm timber after 125 years under water! You can also still find
the remnants of elm piles used for Old London Bridge on the banks of the Thames.
Despite the numerous fires, made famous through the nursery rhyme of London
Bridge burning down, the structure stood standing for over 600 years thanks to
the elm piles.
At one time elm trunks were hollowed out and laid underground as culverts,
pipes and to convey sewage. In London, some external pipes even had holes drilled
in them with corks placed inside. When there was a fire the corks were pulled out
to fill buckets with water.
An elm pipe dug up in 1936 (courtesy of Portsmouth Water Ltd)
Elm wood was used in the construction of wooden boats and ships. Its resistance to splitting made it the favoured wood for keels which would from time to
time be bashed against underwater obstructions.
Even today quality coffins are made of elm and it is an attractive wood for a
range of furniture products.
Elms in Art
The English elm with its lofty, distinctive shape has attracted much attention of
landscape artists, including John Constable who dedicated an entire painting to the
ravines and textures of an elm’s bark and often used them to frame his paintings.
Other artists that make use of elms include Gordon Sage, Frank Wootten, David
Shepherd and Nicholas Trudgion. Elms also featured on a wartime poster view of a
Sussex landscape to represent the quintessential British landscape scene.
Wood turners and sculptors often work with elm wood and appreciate its rich
colour and texture, with Sir Henry Moore among its enthusiasts.
One of the “Your Britain” posters from 1942 and the Birling Gap scene today
(credit: © IWM Art.IWM PST 14887)
Elms in Poetry
Elms are often mentioned in poetry because of their association with the English
countryside, and more darkly with death. Rudyard Kipling, who wrote of this in A
Tree Song, lived in a house called The Elms in Rottingdean. However at other times
they were added simply because they rhyme - you can find an example of this in
Wordsworth’s The Excursion where oaks are replaced for “a brotherhood of lofty
elms”, and George Eliot speaks of “the rookery elms”, which were really oaks.
21
The Princess by Lord Tennyson
Sweet is every sound,
Sweeter they voice, but every sound is sweet;
Myriads of rivulets hurrying thro’ the lawn,
The moan of doves in immemorial elms,
And the murmuring of innumerable bees
A Tree Song by Rudyard Kipling
Ellum, she hateth man and waiteth
Till every gust be laid
To drop a limb on the head of him
That anyway trusts her shade
The Future for Elms
Most people would agree that it is very important to preserve our heritage of
elms. They grace the landscape particularly in areas of chalk downland, tolerating
sea winds, traffic and pollution where other species fail.
At one time it was hoped that DED would fade away but this has not happened.
Although some elms seem to die more quickly than others, the low fertility of their
seeds coupled with the many years needed to reach maturity means that the development of natural resistance may take hundreds or even thousands of year to
build up in our much loved traditional species. Also, some elms such as the English
elm, very rarely produce viable seed in our climate so it is unlikely that natural
resistance will ever be developed in that species.
Resistant hybrid species are now being widely and successfully trialled in Holland and America. Sapporo Autumn Gold and Lobel, both widely planted in Sussex,
seem to be resistant. More recent hybrids such as New Horizon have been planted
in Eastbourne.
The city of Brighton and Hove now has the U.K.’s National Elm Collection which
is possibly the finest collection of elms in the world. A European elm group of enthusiasts and experts is now establishing a network for the exchange of ideas and
information. By reporting signs of disease and planting young elm saplings, we can
all support the protection of these exceptional trees.
22
Taxanomic names of elms - ulmus
Camperdown Elm. U. pendula ‘Camperdownii’.
Coritanian Elm. U. coritana v. angustifolia
Cornish Elm. U. Minor var cornubiensis, U. Campestris var. cornubiensis, U. Campestris var stricta, U. Nitens var stricta, U. Carpinifolia var cornubiensis, U.
angustifolia var cornubiensis.
Dutch Elm. U. ‘Hollandica’, U. x Hollandica ‘Major’ . U. glabra x u. minor.
English Elm. U. minor var vulgata, Ulmus procera. Ulmus campestris.
Golden Elm. U. lutescans
Huntingdon Elm U. vegeta. U. x hollandica vegeta.
Sapporo Autumn Gold U. japonica x U.pumila.
Serpentine Elm U. serpentinei.
Smooth-leaved or Field Elm. U. minor, U. angustifolia, U. carpinifolia, U. elegantissima, U. nitens, U. foliacea.
Weeping Elm, U. Horizontalis, U. glabra pendula.
Wheatley Elm, Jersey or Guernsey Elm.: U. minor var sarniensis, U. stricta var.
wheatley, U. carpinifolia var sarniensis, U. wheatleyi
Wych Elm - U. glabra
Elm heritage of the Sussex coast was produced by The Conservation Foundation as part of
the Ulmus Maritime project, supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund.
The project has been helping to protect the Sussex elm landscape, regenerate the elm
population, show the importance of the exceptional elm heritage, and unlock the mystery
of why some trees survived Dutch elm disease.
Formed by David Bellamy and David Shreeve in 1982, for more than thirty years The Conservation Foundation has been promoting positive environmental news, awareness and action.
www.ulmusmaritime.org
www.conservationfoundation.co.uk
Front cover: Friston Forest; Back cover: Preston Park, Brighton
© 2015, THE CONSERVATION FOUNDATION. Licensed under the Creative Commons
CC BY-NC-SA 3.0, http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/
The Conservation Foundation, 1 Kensington Gore, London, SW7 2AR
Email: info@conservationfoundation.co.uk | Tel: 020 7591 3111
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Elm heritage of the Sussex coast is an introduction to
the regions exceptional elm tree landscape and the
elms importance to us. An estimated 28 million elms
have been lost to Dutch elm disease throughout the
UK. Fortunately, the Sussex coast has been protected
from the onslaught of Dutch elm disease and at least
40,000 elm trees are to be found here.