Ulmus minor var. italica

Ulmus minor var. italica
Leaf and samara drawing of var. italica
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Clade:	Angiosperms
Clade:	Eudicots
Clade:	Rosids
Order:	Rosales
Family:	Ulmaceae
Genus:	Ulmus
Species:	U. minor
Variety:	U. m. var. italica
Trinomial name
Ulmus minor var. italica Henry

Ulmus minor var. italica was first described by Augustine Henry in 1913, as a 'variety' of field elm from Italy, Spain, Portugal and Algeria. He called it Ulmus nitens var. italica, 'Mediterranean Elm'.^{[1][note 1]} The variety was accepted by Krüssman (1984), despite the wide source-area claimed for it, as a non-clonal cultivar, U. carpinifolia var. italica Henry.^[2] Bean (1988), however, considered it "a variety of rather dubious standing",^[3] and it was ignored by Richens (1983), who listed instead a "small-leaved U. minor of Spain" and a "narrow-leaved U. minor of northern and central Italy", as well as "the densely hairy leaved U. minor of southern Italy",^[4] the latter being Ulmus minor subsp. canescens, formerly Melville's Ulmus canescens.

Henry described var. italica as a smooth-leaved field elm growing to 80 feet, distinguished by its 14 to 18 pairs of leaf-veins, an unusually high number for this species. Several Italian field elm authorities offering diagnostic leaf-photographs of local olmo campestre show leaves with 14 to 18 vein-pairs.^{[5][6][7][8][9]} Henry's description also mentions leathery leaves, conspicuous axil-tufts, and a quarter-inch (about 1 cm) petiole.

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  Specimen of var. italica, Via Ronchi, Villamarzana. Veneto, Italy (2020)^[10]
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  Branching of var. italica
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  Bole of var. italica
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  Bark of var. italica
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  Foliage of var. italica, with leaves matching Henry's 1913 description and drawing

Italian field elm is susceptible to Dutch elm disease and Elm leaf beetle Xanthogalerucella luteola Müll.^[11]

Field elm has been described as "a well adapted and appreciated species" in Italy.^[11] Henry gave examples of cultivation of var. italica both there and in the wider source-area claimed for it. Of plantings outside the source-area, he mentioned a specimen sent to Kew Gardens, while Krüssman (1984) included a photograph of var. italica Henry planted in Gisselfeld Park, Denmark.^[2] There was a tree so labelled in Maastricht in the mid-20th century.^[13] The variety was propagated and marketed by the Hillier & Sons nursery, Winchester, Hampshire, in the mid-20th century.^[14][15][16] E. E. Kemp, curator of Royal Botanic Gardens Edinburgh, noted (1979) that in the Netherlands, "where much nursery stock of smooth-leaved elm is raised, about 75% of the seed is obtained from Italian suppliers".^[17]

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  L'olmo di Albugnano, Piedmont, c.1900

Henry described a number of notable old specimens "of this variety", including one at the Villa Paveri-Fontana, Collecchio, Parma, with a bole 20 feet in girth. A centuries-old field elm, 5.5 metres in girth and possibly an example of Henry's var. italica, survives (2009) in the town of Mergozzo in Piedmont.

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  Villa Paveri-Fontana, Collecchio, in Henry's day
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  L'Olmo di Mergozzo, Piedmont, present in 1600
• 
  Same, 2019
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  Trunk detail of same

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  L'olmo di Pincara information board
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  L'olmo di Pincara, Veneto, c.200 years old, bole circumference 5 m
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  L'olmo di Pincara, bole
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  L'olmo di Pincara, bark
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  L'olmo di Pincara, September foliage