Ulmus minor 'Sarniensis'

The tree has a compact, columnar form, not dissimilar to the Lombardy Poplar. Rarely exceeding a height of 27 m, the tree has long stiff ascending branches forming a narrow pyramidal crown. Older specimens broaden round the 'waist', giving trees with a tapering crown a Chianti-flask shape. Like Cornish elm, a narrow-crowned elm from the same area, Guernsey elm is one of the last British trees to come into leaf, and it retains its dark, lustrous foliage into early winter. In favourable conditions it turns a rich golden-yellow in late November or early December. The small leaves and samarae are similar to those of the field elm group in general. Like others of the group, the tree suckers very freely, though it is often base-grafted on wych elm to prevent suckering. The tree often develops highly distinctive cancerous burls on its branches or trunk. File:Granton Parish Church - geograph.org.uk - 325687.jpg|Purplish haze of flowering Guernsey Elm, Granton, Edinburgh Image:The pathway leading through Princes Street Gardens West - geograph.org.uk - 1301247.jpg|Guernsey Elm (left centre) leafing early summer (Princes Street Gardens, Edinburgh) Image:Princes Street Gardens - geograph.org.uk - 612157.jpg|Guernsey Elms (top left), foliage still dark green in early winter (Princes Street Gardens) File:Shirley Drive - geograph.org.uk - 1555251.jpg|Guernsey Elm in late October, Shirley Drive, Hove File:Bark of Ulmus minor 'Sarniensis', Lumley Road, Skegness.jpg|Bark of 'Sarniensis' File:Ulmus minor 'Sarniensis'. Comiston Road, Edinburgh.jpg|Burl on 'Sarniensis' trunk File:Young hedge of Ulmus minor 'Sarniensis', Edinburgh.jpg|Young 'Sarniensis' spreading from suckers File:Preston Park West Ride.JPG|Guernsey elms spreading with age, Preston Park, Brighton (2005) ==Pests and diseases==

Guernsey elm is very susceptible to Dutch elm disease. ==Cultivation==

With its light, upcurving branches, Guernsey elm never became a danger, unlike English elm, which sometimes shed heavy lateral boughs. This fact, and its compact form, made it ideal for street planting. The tree was popular in Britain, where it was widely cultivated. Dutch elm disease has, however, now destroyed nearly all the mature trees in England save a few in Brighton, Bridlington, Peasholm Park, Scarborough and a single tree in Skegness. Around a hundred mature specimens still survive in Edinburgh, Scotland (2013). It was introduced to Osborne House on the Isle of Wight by Albert the Prince Consort, where it survives today as suckers along the lane leading to Barton Manor Farm. Guernsey elm was also planted in large numbers across Amsterdam, but eventually replaced by the similarly fastigiate but much more disease-resistant clone, 'Columella'. One tree, supplied by the Späth nursery, was planted in 1897 as U. campestris sarniensis at the Dominion Arboretum, Ottawa, Canada. 'Sarniensis' was introduced to the United States, featuring in the 1904 catalogue of Frederick W. Kelsey as Ulmus Wheatlyi. In the catalogue of the Plumfield Nursery of Fremont, Nebraska, 1934, its origin was given as Holland. It was described as "a round-headed tree with small glossy leaves, [which] hybridized with American White Elm" (:Ulmus americana), a crossing that would seem unlikely given the ploidy differences. 'Sarniensis' remains in cultivation in the Morton Arboretum. The Ulmus monumentalis introduced to Australia in 1873 is thought to have been 'Sarniensis'. ==Notable trees==

Elwes considered the Richmond public gardens 'Wheatley', c.90 ft. tall, the finest he had seen. File:Jersey Elm at Richmond.jpg|'Sarniensis' at Richmond, London, circa 1913 File:Ulmus minor 'Sarniensis', Lumley Road, Skegness.jpg|Surviving 'Sarniensis', Skegness, Lincolnshire (2017) File:National Champion Wheatley Elm Blakers Park June 2020.jpg|The 'national champion' Wheatley elm, as at 13 June 2020, in Blakers Park, Brighton ==Etymology==

The tree is named for the Channel Island of Guernsey (Sarnia was the Roman name for Guernsey), where it may have originated. A similar tree is found along the Brittany coast, referred to in several 18th and 19th century French treatises as ''l'Orme male'' owing to its phallic resemblance; it is still sometimes referred to as the male elm in Guernsey, although no mature trees survive there either. The synonym Wheatley elm was derived from a tree planted at Wheatley Park, Doncaster, where it was introduced and propagated by Sir William Cooke in the early 19th century. presumably the result of slight mutations in the course of repeated propagation. File:Ulmus campestris Wheatleyi.jpg|A comparatively level-branched tree labelled 'Wheatleyi', Holland, 1912 File:Ulmus monumentalis (non Rinz) = Ulmus minor 'Sarniensis'.jpg|'Sarniensis' in Naarden, the U. monumentalis or monumentaaliep [:monumental elm] of The Netherlands File:Mitteilungen der Deutschen Dendrologischen Gesellschaft (1909) (14777859692).jpg|'Sarniensis' in Tilburg, the U. monumentalis or monumentaaliep [:monumental elm] of The Netherlands (c.1909) ==Varieties==

Some authorities consider 'Dickson's Golden Elm' a form of Guernsey elm. The nursery Messieurs Otin père et fils of Saint-Étienne sold an Ulmus Wheatleyi aurea pyramidalis, with leaves marbled yellow, in 1882. ==Accessions==

;North America • Holden Arboretum, US. as U. × Sarniensis. Acc. no. 56-185. • Morton Arboretum, US. as U. carpinifolia 'Sarniensis'. Acc. nos. 591-22, 212-40, 1043-41, all garden collected. • Smith College, US. as U. carpinifolia 'Sarniensis'. Acc. no. 8120PA. • United States National Arboretum, Washington, D.C., US. One small tree imported 2011. No accession details available. ;Europe • Brighton & Hove City Council, UK. NCCPG Elm Collection. Including the world's best line at Preston Park; with fine avenues at Surrenden Crescent, Elm Grove, Shirley Drive, Carden Hill. This species is still planted in the city. • Grange Farm Arboretum Sutton St James, Spalding, Lincs., UK. Acc. no. 832. • National Botanic Gardens [http://www.botanicgardens.ie, Glasnevin, Dublin, Ireland. Location: A3 (153) • Wakehurst Place Garden, Wakehurst Place, UK. As U. × Sarniensis. Acc. nos. 1977-67, 1977-68, collected by Melville. • Wijdemeren City Council, Netherlands, Elm Arboretum; 2 trees planted 2019, Overmeerseweg, Nederhorst den Berg. ;Australasia • Eastwoodhill Arboretum , Gisborne, New Zealand. 1 tree (as U. minor 'Sarniensis'), details not known. ==Nurseries==

;North America None known. ;Europe • Noordplant , Glimmen, Netherlands. ==References==