Ulmus Minor Var. Plotii

Ulmus Minor Var. Plotii

Ulmus minor var. plotii, known as Plot's Elm, or Lock Elm, is found only in England, where it is encountered mainly in the East Midlands, notably around the River Witham in Lincolnshire and in the Trent Valley around Newark on Trent. It has been described as Britain's rarest native elm, and it is recorded by The Wildlife Trust as a nationally scarce species.

As with other members of the Field Elm group, the taxonomy of Plot's Elm is a matter of contention, several authorities recognizing it as a species in its own right. Indeed, it is as U. plotii that the specimens held by the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew and Wakehurst Place are listed. Richens, however, contended that it is simply one of the more distinctive clones of the polymorphous Ulmus minor, conjecturing that its incidence in the English Midlands may have been linked to its use as a distinctive marker along Drovers' roads.

Henry mistook the tree as Goodyer's Elm Ulmus stricta (now U. minor subsp. angustifolia) var. goodyeri . The trees Goodyer described are confined to the Hampshire coast east of Lymington, and very dissimilar in structure.