Ulmus minor 'Plotii' facts for kids

Kids Encyclopedia Facts

Quick facts for kids Ulmus minor 'Plotii'
'Plotii', near Fineshade, 1911
Species	Ulmus minor
Cultivar	'Plotii'
Origin	England

The Plot Elm (scientific name: Ulmus minor 'Plotii') is a special type of Field Elm tree. It's also known by names like Lock Elm or Plot's Elm. This tree is mostly found in the East Midlands of England. You can see it around the River Witham in Lincolnshire, the Trent Valley near Newark-on-Trent, and in the village of Laxton, Northamptonshire.

Some experts, like Ronald Melville, think this tree grows mainly near rivers like the Trent, Witham, Welland, and Nene. There were also some Plot Elms in Gloucestershire. It's considered Britain's rarest native elm tree and is listed as a nationally scarce species by The Wildlife Trust.

Scientists have debated how to classify the Plot Elm. Some, like Professor Clive A. Stace, believe it's its own unique species, calling it U. plotii. The Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew and Wakehurst Place list their trees this way. However, R. H. Richens thought it was just a special type of Ulmus minor. He believed it might have grown from a change in U. minor and that its location in England could be linked to old Drovers' roads, where it might have been used as a marker.

A study by Dr. Max Coleman in 2000 showed that Plot Elms are genetically identical, meaning they are all clones of each other. He suggested calling it U. minor 'Plotii' because it's a specific type of U. minor that has been grown and named.

An older name for this tree, Ulmus surculosa argutifolia, was used by Jonathan Stokes before 1812. Even earlier, in the 1670s, a plant sample collected by Edward Morgan was identified as Ulmus plotii by Druce in 1919.

What Does the Plot Elm Look Like?
Pests and Diseases
Why is it Called Plot Elm?
Where Does Plot Elm Grow?
Notable Plot Elm Trees
How Plot Elm Forms New Types of Trees
Plot Elm in Art and Books
Images for kids
See also

What Does the Plot Elm Look Like?

Before Dutch elm disease became a big problem, the Plot Elm could grow up to 30 meters (about 98 feet) tall. It was a slender tree with a unique crown that looked like an ostrich feather, as described by R. H. Richens. It had a few short branches that grew upwards.

The bark of the Plot Elm stays smooth for many years. Older trees often had a few longer branches lower down. Its leaves are small, usually less than 4 cm (about 1.5 inches) long, and have few teeth along their edges. The top of the leaves feels dull and has tiny bumps and hairs. The seeds, called samarae, rarely fully ripen. When they do, they are narrow and less than 13 mm (about half an inch) long, with a small notch.

'Plotii', Banbury, 1911 (two trees close together)
Ulmus plotii leaves, The Gardeners' Chronicle, 1912
Young Plot Elm, Laxton, Northamptonshire, 2015
Plot Elm, Laxton, Northamptonshire (upper stem missing)
Young 'Plotii' in winter, Scamblesby, Lincolnshire
Plot foliage in mid-May, Caythorpe, Nottinghamshire
Plot bark, Laxton, Northamptonshire
Young Plot bark, Caythorpe, Nottinghamshire
Plot foliage and young bark, Utterby, Lincolnshire

Pests and Diseases

The Plot Elm is very vulnerable to Dutch elm disease. This disease has caused many elm trees to die.

Why is it Called Plot Elm?

The tree was first officially named by the botanist George Claridge Druce between 1907 and 1911. He found examples of the tree in Banbury and Fineshade, Northamptonshire. Druce named the tree after Dr. Robert Plot, a naturalist from the 1600s.

The older name, 'Lock Elm', has been used since at least 1742. Some say it refers to how hard its wood is to work with. However, Druce disagreed, saying the wood is actually easy to work with and useful. The name 'Lock' might come from an old English word for "enclosure," suggesting the tree was used to mark boundaries. Some old stories even connect 'Lock Elm' to witchcraft, where it was thought to help open locks and find hidden treasure.

Arthur Reginald Horwood called it the 'Northamptonshire Elm' in his book British Wild Flowers.

Where Does Plot Elm Grow?

Plot Elms were grown in tree collections even before they were officially classified. For example, there were two trees at Westonbirt House by 1912.

Ronald Melville studied these trees in the 1930s and confirmed that Druce's examples were typical. However, he also included other "Plot Elms" in collections that were slightly different. Trees that are very similar to Plot Elm but not exactly the same are now called Ulmus aff. 'Plotii'. These trees have some features of the Plot Elm but their crowns are too wide.

Melville thought that the Plot Elm used to be more common. But even before Dutch elm disease, it was not a very common tree. Its numbers have also been affected by the removal of hedgerows and new buildings in its natural areas.

Sadly, no mature "true" Plot Elms are known to be alive today. Some of the last known semi-mature Plot Elms in Cambridge were cut down between 2007 and 2014 for road widening. Unlike other Field Elms, the Plot Elm does not produce many new shoots from its roots. However, it is not considered to be in critical danger of disappearing completely. There were plans to protect the remaining trees and help them grow, but it's not clear if these plans were put into action.

R. H. Richens once wrote that a landscape with these trees, like in parts of northern Northamptonshire, looked very special, almost like a Japanese painting. Gerald Wilkinson also called the Plot Elm a "beautiful tree" with a narrow shape. He felt it was a missed chance that local councils didn't plant more of these native elms instead of other types.

Plot Elms were included in botanical collections like Kew Gardens and Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh. In the UK, a nursery called Hillier & Sons sold Plot Elms from 1949 to 1977. Today, it's only planted occasionally because it's so easily affected by Dutch elm disease.

In Europe, the Späth nursery in Berlin sold 'Goodyer Elm' (which was actually Plot Elm) from at least 1930. Three young Plot Elms were reported in a private garden in France in 2014. In the USA, some elms brought to the Arnold Arboretum around 1915 might also have been Plot Elms.

Notable Plot Elm Trees

The original "type" tree in Banbury was blown down in a storm around 1943. Its wood was given to the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. In the early 1900s, there was a beautiful row of these trees at Newton on Trent, Lincolnshire. Many also grew by the river Tove at Towcester until at least 1955.

Today, a large group of young Plot Elms still exists as a hedge near Caythorpe, Nottinghamshire. Two big trees also survived near Calceby, Lincolnshire, as of 2016 (though they died in 2019).

One of the most famous Plot Elms was at Westonbirt House. It was photographed by Augustine Henry in 1912 for his book Trees of Great Britain & Ireland. This tree was said to be the largest of its kind in Britain, measuring 26.8 meters (88 feet) high and 2.5 meters (8.1 feet) around in 1921. Another important tree was at Eastington House in Ampney St Peter, Gloucestershire, until it was blown down around 1947.

Plot elm, Westonbirt, misidentified by Henry as Goodyer's Elm, 1912
Madingley Road elms, Cambridge, 2013
Two surviving 'Plotii', Calceby, Lincolnshire, July 2016 (died 2019)
Plot hedge, Caythorpe, Nottinghamshire
'Plotii', Ampney Crucis, Gloucestershire (2017), near Ampney St Peter, where the notable Eastington House 'Plotii' stood

How Plot Elm Forms New Types of Trees

The Plot Elm can mix with other elm trees in nature.

It can cross with wych elm to create a type called U. × hollandica 'Elegantissima'.
It can also cross with U. minor to form Ulmus × viminalis.

Ronald Melville noticed that in areas where Plot Elm grows, these mixed trees are actually more common than the Plot Elm itself.

Plot Elm in Art and Books

... Cedric stopped the car when they were well out of the suburbs on the Hertfordshire side, at a place where a by-road ran up a slope of ploughland. At the top was a short row of elms whose crests were asymmetrical – shaped like one-sided foam on a tankard of beer, as if exposed to a prevailing breeze.

– From E. B. C. Jones, Morning and Cloud (1932).

A painting from 1739 by George Lambert, called 'View of Dunton Hall, Lincolnshire', might show a Plot Elm. It features a narrow, elm-like tree with short branches and a unique crown. This painting was made in an area where Plot Elms naturally grow.

George Lambert, 'View of Dunton Hall, Lincolnshire' (1739)
'On The Leam'. Plot elm in a postcard by Hildesheime (c.1907)

In a book called Britain Beautiful (1920), there's a photo of a notable Plot Elm near Kings Mill, Stamford, Lincolnshire, taken around 1910. It was a tall, healthy tree with long side branches, almost like a cedar tree. Ronald Melville said that old Plot Elms are unique and have a lot of character.

A description in E. B. C. Jones's novel Morning and Cloud (1932) talks about asymmetrical elms in Hertfordshire. This might be a rare mention of the Plot Elm in literature.

Images for kids

'Plotii', near Fineshade, 1911