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Ulmus wallichiana
Himalayan elm is a large mountain tree from the Ulmaceae family, native to the slopes of Afghanistan, Pakistan, northern India and western Nepal at 800 to 3000 m. It is grown as a hardy shade and timber tree in cool temperate climates, and is not a houseplant.
Ulmus wallichiana Planch., the Himalayan elm, also known as the Kashmir elm and Bhutan elm, is a mountain tree ranging from central Nuristan in Afghanistan, through northern Pakistan and northern India to western Nepal at elevations of 800–3000 m. Its common name is occasionally used in error for the cherry bark elm Ulmus villosa, which is also endemic to the Kashmir, but inhabits the valleys, not the mountain slopes, and is dissimilar in appearance. The species is closely related to the wych elm U. glabra.
Endemic to an impoverished region with no fossil fuel resources, U. wallichiana is heavily lopped for firewood, and also for fodder, leaving it in danger of extermination in some areas. Elsewhere however, it has been deliberately planted near villages and farmhouses. Recognizing its predicament, efforts have been made in India to conserve the tree by drying the seeds and placing them in refrigerated storage. A species of considerable commercial potential, research has also been undertaken into optimal propagation methods.
The tree was first introduced to the West in the 1920s, with the arrival of a specimen at the Arnold Arboretum from Chamba, a hill station overlooking the north Indian plain. The tree soon proved eminently unsuited to the cold Boston winters and died, but not before a five-budded cutting could be sent to S. G. A. Doorenbos, Parks Director at The Hague, in 1929. Doorenbos was able to graft four of the buds, and the following year had a row of strongly growing plants.
Winged elm · American elm · Ulmus 'Androssowii' · Ulmus ×arbuscula · Ulmus minor subsp. canescens · Cedar elm · Ulmus 'Densa' · Wych Elm · Ulmus glaucescens var. glaucescens · Ulmus glaucescens var. lasiocarpa · Ulmus glaucescens · Ulmus harbinensis
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Ulmus wallichiana by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
