The putative Wych Elm cultivar Ulmus glabra 'Latifolia' was identified in Audibert's Tonelle (1817) as U. campestris Linn. [ = U. glabra Huds.] latifolia.Audibert, U., Catalogue des végétaux de tous genres cultivés dans les jardins et pépinières à Tonelle (Tarascon, France, 1817) p. 23 catalogue of 1817kiki.huh.harvard.edu The tree is reputed to have originated circa 1750 in or around Mechelen, and to have been widely planted throughout Belgium. Möller in Deutsche Gärtner-Zeitung (1901) gave U. scabra Mill. latifolia as a synonym of the Ulmus montana latifolia marketed in Germany, confirming it as a wych elm cultivar.
A non-wych form, Ulmus glabra Mill. [:smooth-leaved] var. latifolia was described by Lindley in A Synopsis of British Flora, arranged according to the Natural Order (1829), from trees near West Hatch, Epping Forest, Essex. A tree listed by that name grew in the Royal Victoria Park, Bath, in the mid-19th century.Hanham, F. (1857). A Manual for the Park (Royal Victoria Park, Bath). Longman, London. A 1912 herbarium specimen from Oudenbosch, shows a hybrid elm leaf labelled Ulmus x hollandica 'Latifolia', Sheet labelled Ulmus x hollandica latifolia, Oudenbosch, 1912; Long shoot. Sheet labelled Ulmus x hollandica latifolia, Oudenbosch, 1912; Sheet labelled Ulmus x hollandica latifolia as does a 1917 herbarium specimen from Scania, Sweden. Though 'Latifolia' was considered by Green as "possibly the same as 'Belgica' (Belgian Elm)", the Späth nursery of Berlin, which used U. montana for both wych and large-leaved hybrids, marketed Ulmus montana latifolia and Ulmus montana belgica as distinct cultivars (see 'Cultivation'). The Hesse Nursery of Weener, Germany, marketed Ulmus montana latifolia in the 1930s, as well as an Ulmus latifolia, giving Ulmus Pitteursi and Ulmus hollandica as synonyms of the latter (and listing the latter with Ulmus latifolia Dumont).
Description Audibert described his tree as having broader leaves than the species, which expand very early in the spring. Möller in Deutsche Gärtner-Zeitung (1901) described Ulmus montana latifolia as a tree of lush growth that forms a broad crown with large foliage.Möller, Deutsche Gärtner-Zeitung, Vol.16 (1901), p.324–325 Hanham's Bath U. glabra Mill. [:smooth-leaved] latifolia (1857) had leaves "oblong, acute, and very broad".
Cultivation No specimens are known to survive. 'Latifolia' was marketed in the late 19th century as U. montana latifolia by the Späth nursery of Berlin and by the Ulrich nursery of Warsaw,Ulrich, C. (1894), Katalog Drzew i Krezewow, C. Ulrich, Rok 1893-94, Warszawa whence it was introduced to Eastern Europe. It was introduced to the Dominion Arboretum, Ottawa, Canada, probably from Späth, in 1899, as U. montana latifolia, being listed separately from U. montana belgica (planted 1896). An U. campestris latifolia appears in some early 20th C English nursery lists. An Ulmus latifolia, "compact and upright in habit" with "large leaves", appeared in the 1902 catalogue of the Bobbink and Atkins nursery, Rutherford, New Jersey. A 'Latifolia' is not known to have been introduced to Australasia.
Putative specimens A tall Ulmus × hollandica by Cleveland Bridge, Bath (2025) (a city known to have had hybrid 'Latifolia' in the 19th and early 20th centuriesInman, Frederic (1905) 'The Elm, with a Notice of some Remarkable Varieties in the Victoria Park, Bath', January 1902, from Proceedings of the Bath natural history and antiquarian field club, vol.10, p.37. Bath.), regrowth from an old stump, has leaves matching a 1917 hybrid 'Latifolia' herbarium specimen from Sweden in the Finnish Museum of Natural History.Herberium specimen labelled U. foliacea Gilibert × U. glabra Huds. 'Latifolia', from Scania, Sweden, 1917; specimen Q.336295, Museum Botanicum Univ. Helsinki, Finnish Museum of Natural History
An old elm cultivar matching one of the above descriptions of 'Latifolia' and the 1912 Oudenbosch herbarium specimensbioportal.naturalis.nl, specimen WAG.1846600 Ulmus × hollandica 'Latifolia' stands in North Merchiston Cemetery, Edinburgh (2018). The smooth leaf and shoot, asymmetrical leaf-base, 4 mm petiole, and elongated samara, suggest hybridity, despite a resemblance to wych elm.
Synonymy Orme de Malines: Gillekens,huh.harvard.edu Éléments d'arboriculture forestière 38, 1891 Ulmus scabra Mill. latifolia: Möller, Deutsche Gärtner-Zeitung (1901)
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