Ulmus uyematsui


Ulmus uyematsui Hayata, commonly known as the Alishan elm, is endemic to forests at elevations of in Alishan, Chiayi County, central Taiwan, where it is considered one of the minor tree species. The tree was first named and described by the Japanese botanist Bunzō Hayata in 1913, in the aftermath of the First Sino-Japanese War, when the Republic of Formosa was ceded to Japan.

Description

The tree grows to a height of 25 m with a d.b.h. to 80 cm. The bark is grey, longitudinally fissured, and exfoliates in irregular flakes. The branchlets are brown, glabrous, though pubescent when young, and devoid of corky wings. The largely glabrous leaves are elliptic to oblong-elliptic 5-11 cm long × 3-4.5 cm wide, typically caudate at the apex; the margins are doubly serrate. The leaves are oblique at the base, have short petioles, and are flushed dark-red on emergence. The perfect wind-pollinated apetalous flowers appear on second-year shoots in February, the obovate to orbicular samarae, 10-15 × 8-10 mm, on half-centimetre pedicels, in March.
Hayata considered the tree similar to Ulmus castaneifolia, differing only in the much thinner leaves, and absence of pubescence on the axils of the primary lateral veins. This comparison was not repeated in later descriptions.

Pests and diseases

No information available.

Cultivation

U. uyematsui is rare in cultivation beyond Taiwan; it was introduced to commerce in the Netherlands in 2011. U. uyematsui was selected as one of eight tree species considered hardy enough to survive in the ecological reclamation of the Wujiazi iron mine north-east of Beijing in Liaoning Province, China, where winter temperatures fall as low as.

Etymology

The species is named for K. Uyematsu, who collected the plant in 1913.

Accessions

North America

Europe

Nurseries

;Europe
;Asia