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Ulmus glabra, the wych elm or Scots elm, has the widest range of the European elm species, from Ireland eastwards to the Ural Mountains, and from the Arctic Circle south to the mountains of the Peloponnese and Sicily, where the species reaches its southern limit in Europe; it is also found in Iran. A large deciduous tree, it is essentially a montane species, growing at altitudes up to , preferring sites with moist soils and high humidity.Heybroek, H. M., Goudzwaard, L, Kaljee, H. (2009). Iep of olm, karakterboom van de Lage Landen (:Elm, a tree with character of the Low Countries). KNNV, Uitgeverij. The tree can form pure forests in Scandinavia and occurs as far north as latitude 67°N at Beiarn Municipality in Norway. It has been successfully introduced as far north as Tromsø and Alta in northern Norway (70°N). It has also been successfully introduced to Narsarsuaq, near the southern tip of Greenland (61°N).
The tree was by far the most common elm in the north and west of the British Isles and is now acknowledged as the only indisputably British native elm species. Owing to its former abundance in Scotland, the tree was occasionally (primarily historically) known as Scots elm; Loch Lomond is said to be a corruption of the Gaelic Lac Leaman interpreted by some as 'Lake of the Elms', 'leaman' being the genitive plural form of leam or lem, 'elm'.Richens, R. H. (1983). Elm. Cambridge University Press.
Closely related species, such as Bergmann's elm U. bergmanniana and Manchurian Elm, native to northeast Asia, were once sometimes included in U. glabra;Elwes, H. J. & Henry, A. (1913). The Trees of Great Britain & Ireland. Vol. VII. 1848–1929. Republished 2014 Cambridge University Press, another close relative is the Himalayan or Kashmir elm U. wallichiana. Conversely, Ulmus elliptica from the Caucasus, considered a species by many authorities,Elwes, Henry John, & Henry, Augustine, (1913) The Trees of Great Britain & Ireland, Vol.7, pp.1863-1864 [2]Bean, W. J. (1988) Trees and shrubs hardy in Great Britain, 8th edition, Murray, LondonKrüssman, Gerd, Manual of Cultivated Broad-Leaved Trees & Shrubs (1984 vol. 3) is sometimes listed as a regional form of Ulmus glabra.Richens, R. H., Elm (Cambridge 1983), p.279
Much overlap is seen between populations with these characters, and the distinction may owe to environmental influence, rather than genetic variation; the subspecies are not accepted by either Flora Europaea or Plants of the World Online. Flora Europaea: Ulmus glabra
target="_blank" rel="nofollow"> Forestry Commission. Dutch elm disease in Britain, UKBrasier, C. M. (1996).
target="_blank" rel="nofollow"> New horizons in Dutch elm disease control. Pages 20–28 in: Report on Forest Research, 1996. Forestry Commission. HMSO, London, UK. it is less favoured as a host by the elm bark beetles, which act as vectors. Research in Spain has indicated the presence of a triterpene, alnulin, rendering the tree bark less attractive to the beetle than the Ulmus minor, though at 87 μg/g dried bark, its concentration is not as effective as in Ulmus laevis (200 μg/g). Moreover, once the tree is dying, its bark is quickly colonized by the fungus Phoma, which radically reduces the amount of bark available for the beetle to breed on. In European trials, clones of apparently resistant trees were inoculated with the pathogen, causing 85 – 100% wilting, resulting in 68% mortality by the following year. DNA analysis by Cemagref (now Irstea) in France has determined the genetic diversity within the species is very limited, making the chances of a resistant tree evolving rather remote.Solla et al. (2005). "Screening European Elms for Resistance to Ophiostoma novo-ulmi". Forest Science, 134–141. 51 (2) 2005. Society of American Foresters.
A 300-year-old example growing in Grenzhammer, Ilmenau has allegedly been scientifically proven to be resistant to Dutch elm disease. In 1998, over 700 healthy, mature trees were discovered on the upper slopes of Mount Šimonka in the Slanské Hills in Slovakia, Igor Kňazovický, , 'Prince Charles had elms from Šimonka planted in the royal residence', Regional Tourism Organization, Horný Zemplín and Horný Šariš; 23 June 2020 where they are believed to have survived courtesy of their isolation from disease-carrying beetles rather than through any innate resistance; 50 clones of these trees, propagated by the Faculty of Forestry at the Technical University in Zvolen, were presented to the Prince of Wales (now King Charles III) and planted at his Highgrove Estate, in the Duchy of Cornwall estate, and at Clapham, Yorkshire, in 2001. They remain disease-free (2024).Geraint Richards, 'All the King's Elms: re-elming the Duchy of Cornwall estate', in Mark Seddon and David Shreeve, eds., Great British Elms (Kew Gardens, 2024), p.181 Miroslava Babiaková, 'Teamwork behind the success story of Slovak elms in the royal gardens at Highgrove'; Faculty of Forestry, Technical University of Svolen, Slovakia, 31 October 2019; lf.tuzvo.skAndrej Barát, 'Les princa Charlesa zdobia slovenské bresty. Už 20 rokov' :, 13 February 2020, zurnal.pravda.sk
The Swedish Forest Tree Breeding Association at Källstorp produced triploid and tetraploid forms of the tree, but these proved no more resistant to Dutch elm disease than the normal diploid form.
In trials conducted in Italy, the tree was found to have a slight to moderate susceptibility to Elm Yellows, and a high susceptibility to the elm leaf beetle Xanthogaleruca luteola.
As wych elm does not sucker from the roots, and any seedlings are often consumed by uncontrolled deer populations, regeneration is very restricted, limited to sprouts from the stumps of young trees. The resultant decline has been extreme, and the wych elm is now uncommon over much of its former range. It is best propagated from seed or by layering stooled stock plants, although softwood cuttings taken in early June will root fairly reliably under mist.Beckett, K. & G. (1979). Planting Native Trees and Shrubs. Jarrold & Sons, Norwich, UK.
Wych elm was widely planted in Edinburgh in the 19th century as a park and avenue tree, and despite losses, it remains abundant there, regenerating through seedlings.Coleman, Max, ed., Wych Elm (Edinburgh, 2009) It was introduced to New England in the 18th century, to Canada (as U. montana at the Dominion Arboretum, Ottawa) canadiantreetours.org and Australia in the 19th century.Spencer, Roger, ed., Horticultural Flora of South-Eastern Australia, Vol. 2 (Sydney, 1995), Ulmus, p. 103-118 [13]
The UK Champion listed in the Tree Register of the British Isles was at Brahan Castle in the Scottish Highlands The Brahan Elm, forestry.gov.uk (died 2021 Coleman, Max, 'Wake-up call to climate change'; Botanics Stories, Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, 2022); it had a girth of 703 cm (2.23 m DBH) and a height of 24 m. Possibly the oldest specimen in England was found in 2018 in a field north of Hopton Castle in Shropshire. Coppiced long ago, its bole girth measured 6.3 m in 2018. The oldest specimen in Edinburgh is believed to be the tree (girth 5.2 m) in the former grounds of Duddingston House, now Duddingston Golf Course.CEC information; tree may be seen on Google Streetview, beside Cavalry Park Drive, E. of Holy Rood High School. Other notable specimens in Edinburgh are to be found in Learmonth Gardens and The Meadows.Edinburgh Wych-elm photographs [20] [21]
In Europe, a large tree planted in 1620 grows at Bergemolo, 5 km south of Demonte in Piedmont, Italy (bole-girth 6.2 m, 2.0 m DBH, height 26 m., 2008).Association of Nature Patriarchs in Italy: Piemonte - Olmo di Bergemolo, access-date: 23 November 2016 Other ancient specimens grow at Styria, in Austria, and at Grenzhammer, Germany (see Gallery).
'Exoniensis', Exeter Elm, has traditionally been classified as a form of U. glabra.
However, hybrids of U. glabra and Ulmus pumila, the Siberian elm, have not been observed in the field and only achieved in the laboratory, though the ranges of the two species, the latter introduced by man, overlap in parts of Southern Europe, notably Spain. A crossing in Russia of U. glabra and U. pumila produced the hybrid named Ulmus × arbuscula; a similar crossing was cloned ('FL025') by the Istituto per la Protezione delle Piante (IPP), Florence, as part of the Italian elm breeding programme circa 2000.
Hybrids with U. glabra in their ancestry have featured strongly in recent artificial hybridisation experiments in Europe, notably at Wageningen in the Netherlands, and a number of hybrid cultivars have been commercially released since 1960. The earlier trees were raised in response to the initial Dutch elm disease pandemic that afflicted Europe after the First World War, and were to prove vulnerable to the much more virulent strain of the disease that arrived in the late 1960s. However, further research eventually produced several trees effectively immune to disease, which were released after 1989. (1993). 9781461568742, Springer-Verlag. ISBN 9781461568742
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