Ulmus 'Morfeo'

''Ulmus'' 'Morfeo' is a hybrid elm cultivar raised by the Istituto per la Protezione delle Piante (IPP), Florence, in 2000.
'Morfeo' arose from a crossing of the Dutch hybrid clone '405' (female parent) and the Chenmou Elm, the latter a small tree from the provinces of Anhui and Jiangsu in eastern China,Fu, L. & Jin J. (eds). (1992). ''China Red Data Book. Rare and endangered plants. Vol. 1''. Science Press, Beijing.Fu, L., Xin, Y. & Whittemore, A. (2002). Ulmaceae, in Wu, Z. & Raven, P. (eds) ''Flora of China'', Vol. 5 (Ulmaceae through Basellaceae). Science Press, Beijing, and Missouri Botanical Garden Press, St. Louis, US

/ref>Santini, A., Pecori, F., Pepori, A., & Brookes, A. (2011). 'Morfeo' Elm: a new variety resistant to Dutch elm disease. ''Forest Pathology'', April 2012, Vol. 42, Issue 2, 171–17

/ref> The '405' clone is a full sister of Ulmus 'Groeneveld', 'Groeneveld', a crossing of an English ''U.'' × ''hollandica'' and a French ''U. minor'' from the Barbier Nursery, Orléans'', as part of an assessment of DED-resistant cultivars as potential hosts of the endangered White-letter Hairstreak.Brookes, A. H. (2020). ''Great Fontley Elm Trial, 2020 Report''. Butterfly Conservation, Lulworth, England.

Description

'Morfeo' is a robust, fast-growing tree able to freestand at a very early age.Santini, A., Pecori, F., Pepori, A. L., Ferrini, F., Ghelardini, L. Genotype × environment interaction and growth stability of several elm clones resistant to Dutch elm disease. ''Forest Ecology and Management''. Elsevier B. V., Netherlands. The stem commences forking at between 1.5 and 2 m from the ground, the branches on juvenile trees with irregular patches of corky bark. The reddish branchlets bear mid – green elliptic leaves, < 120 mm (avg. 88 mm) long × < 80 mm (avg. 56 mm) broad with 10 mm petioles. The leaves closely resemble those of the Field Elm, with typically asymmetric base and acuminate apex; they turn crimson in late October, before falling in early November. The sessile samarae ripen in mid May, and are narrowly obovate, 17–22 mm long × 9 – 13 mm broad with the seed offset next to the notched apex. In the UK the tree begins flowering in its fourth year, the perfect, apetalous wind-pollinated flowers appearing in mid March. The tree was noted to start suckering from roots in Italy when aged about 5 years, but this has not been observed in the ''Butterfly Conservation'' trials in the UK.

Image:Ulmus 'Morfeo' GFF UK.jpg, 'Morfeo' in winter
Image:Morfeo leaf.jpg, 'Morfeo' leaf and Euro coin.
File:Seed Ulmus Morfeo.jpg, Samarae
Image:Morfeo autumn colour 2.jpg, 'Morfeo' leaf colour, late October.
Image:Morfeo, corky ridged bark.jpg, 'Morfeo' corky bark on juvenile branch.

Pests and diseases

'Morfeo' has a very high resistance to Dutch Elm Disease. In trials conducted by the Istituto per la Protezione delle Piante, Florence, 'Morfeo' sustained just 4.7% defoliation and 0.0% dieback when inoculated with unnaturally high concentrations of the fungal pathogen, compared with 19.8% / 11.7% resp. for , and 50% / 35.5% resp. for 'Lobel'.
However, 'Morfeo' is particularly susceptible to the phytoplasma ''phloem necrosis'', commonly known as elm yellows, a disease as yet (2025) unknown in the UK.

Cultivation

'Morfeo' is no longer in commerce owing to its singular susceptibility to elm yellows. The tree was introduced to the UK in 2006 as a potential host plant for the White-letter Hairstreak butterfly ''Satyrium w-album'' by ''Butterfly Conservation'', and has proven the fastest-growing of 13 cultivars on trial on a shallow sandy, gravelly loam over Reading Beds, increasing in stem diameter by 2.1 cm per annum. 'Morfeo' is also tolerant of waterlogged alluvium along rivers, and grows particularly well on exposed, elevated, chalk atop Portsdown Hill near Portsmouth. The cultivar was introduced to North America in 2010, at the National Arboretum, Washington, D.C., and released from quarantine in 2013; it is not known to have been introduced to Australasia.

Etymology

The cultivar is named for Morfeo (English: Morpheus), the Roman god of dreams to whom the elm was sacred. There was an elm in Morpheus' domain, upon which hung the dreams fashioned by the Oneiroi.
From the ''Aeneid'' by Virgil, translated by Dryden:

''Full in the midst of this infernal road,''

''An elm displays her dusky arms abroad:''

''The God of Sleep there hides his heavy head,''

''And empty dreams on ev'ry leaf are spread.''

Accessions

;Europe
*Grange Farm Arboretumbr>
Lincolnshire, Lincs., UK. Acc. no. 822.
*Great Fontley Farm, Fareham, UK. ''Butterfly Conservation'' One tree, Elm Trials plantation, Home Field.
* Icomb Place, UK. Three plants donated by IPP in 2011
*Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, UK. Acc. no. 20110002
*Sir Harold Hillier Gardens, UK. One tree in Plant Centre Field. Acc. no. 2007.0258.

North America

* National Arboretum, Washington, D.C., US. Two trees.

References

{{Elm species, varieties, hybrids, hybrid cultivars and species cultivars , state=collapsed

Hybrid elm cultivar
Ulmus articles with images
Ulmus