Ulmus Procera

Ulmus procera, the English, Common, or more lately Atinian, Elm was, before the advent of Dutch elm disease, one of the largest and fastest-growing deciduous trees in Europe. A survey of genetic diversity in Spain, Italy and the UK revealed that the English Elms are genetically identical, clones of a single tree, the Atinian Elm once widely used for training vines, and brought to the British Isles by Romans for the purpose of supporting and training vines. Thus, despite its name, the origin of the tree is widely believed to be from Italy, although it is possible it hailed from what is now Turkey, where it is still used in the cultivation of raisins.

R. H. Richens suggested that the tree is a particular clone of the variable species Ulmus minor, referring to it as Ulmus minor var. vulgaris. Dr Max Coleman of the Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh writes (2009): "The advent of DNA fingerprinting has shed considerable light on the question. A number of studies have now shown that the distinctive forms that Melville elevated to species and Richens lumped together as field elm are single clones, all genetically identical, that have been propagated by vegetative means such as cuttings or root suckers. This means that enigmatic British elms such as ... English Elm have turned out to be single clones of field elm." Most current taxonomies, however, do not list English elm under the heading "Ulmus minor var.".