Editing Elm (section)

==Culture==

=== Notable elm trees ===
{{main|Lists of elm trees}}
Many elm trees of various kinds have attained great size or otherwise become particularly noteworthy.

=== In art ===
Many artists have admired elms for the ease and grace of their branching and foliage, and have painted them with sensitivity. Elms are a recurring element in the landscapes and studies of, for example, [[John Constable]], [[Ferdinand Georg Waldmüller]], [[Frederick Childe Hassam]], [[Karel Klinkenberg]],<ref>[http://www.wikigallery.org/wiki/artist45194/Johannes-Christiaan-Karel-Klinkenberg/page-1 Johannes Christiaan Karel Klinkenberg] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120121213304/http://www.wikigallery.org/wiki/artist45194/Johannes-Christiaan-Karel-Klinkenberg/page-1 |date=21 January 2012 }}</ref> and [[George Inness]].

<gallery>
File:Constable - Elm trees in Old Hall Park, East Bergholt, 320-1891.jpg|John Constable, ''Elm trees in Old Hall Park, East Bergholt'' [1817] (''Ulmus × hollandica''<ref name="Richens"/>)
File:Constable - Study of an Elm Tree - c1821.jpeg|John Constable, ''Study of an Elm Tree'' [1821]
File:John Constable 008.jpg|John Constable, ''The Cornfield'' [1826] (''Ulmus × hollandica''<ref name="Richens"/>)
File: John Constable 017.jpg| Constable, ''Salisbury Cathedral from the Bishop's Garden'' [1823 version] (''Ulmus × hollandica''<ref name="Richens"/>)
File:Jacob George Strutt elms.jpg|Jacob George Strutt, ''Elms at Mongewell, Oxfordshire'' [1830] (''U. minor'' 'Atinia')
File:Waldmüller - Partie aus dem Prater1.jpeg|Ferdinand Georg Waldmüller, ''Alte Ulmen im Prater'' (''Old Elms in [[Prater]]'') [1831]
Image:James Duffield Harding - The Great Exhibition of 1851 - Google Art Project.jpg|[[James Duffield Harding]], ''The Great Exhibition of 1851'' (''U. minor'' 'Atinia', centre)
File:Arthur Hughes - Back from Sea.jpg|[[Arthur Hughes (artist)|Arthur Hughes]], ''Home from Sea'' [1862] (''U. minor'' 'Atinia'<ref name="Richens"/>)
File:Ford Madox Brown - Work - artchive.com.jpg|[[Ford Madox Brown]], ''Work'' [1863] (''U. minor'' 'Atinia'<ref name="Richens"/>)
File:AmCyc Elm - American Elm (tree).jpg|[unknown artist] ''The American Elm'' [1879] (''U. americana'')
File:The Large Plane Trees (Road Menders at Saint-Rémy), by Vincent van Gogh, Cleveland Museum of Art, 1947.209.jpg|[[Vincent van Gogh]], ''Road Menders at Saint-Rémy'' [1889], old elms miscalled planes by the artist<ref>[https://www.vangoghmuseum.nl/en/about/knowledge-and-research/van-gogh-museum-articles/yew-elm-or-plane-exactly-which-tree-did-van-gogh-paint Teio Meedendorp, 'Yew, Elm or Plane: Exactly Which Tree Did Van Gogh Paint?', Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam; vangoghmuseum.nl]</ref>
File:Glaspalast München 1890 165.jpg|Johannes Karel Christiaan Klinkenberg, ''Amsterdam'' [1890] (''Ulmus x hollandica  '' ‘Belgica' '' '')
File:Childe Hassam - Champs Elysées, Paris.JPG|Frederick Childe Hassam, ''Champs Elysées, Paris'' [1889] (''Ulmus × hollandica'',  'orme femelle'<ref name="Richens"/>)
File:Hassam Washington Arch Spring.jpg|Frederick Childe Hassam, ''Washington Arch, Spring'' [1893] (''U. americana'')
File:Church at Old Lyme Childe Hassam.jpeg|Frederick Childe Hassam, ''Church at Old Lyme'' [1905] (''U. americana'')
File:Childe Hassam's 1920 oil, The East Hampton Elms in May.jpg|Frederick Childe Hassam, ''The East Hampton Elms in May'' [1920] (''U. americana'')
File:GeorgeInnessOldElmAtMedfield.jpg|George Inness, ''Old Elm at Medfield'' (''U. americana'')
File:PSM V65 D491 The cam near trinity college cambridge university.png|Unknown artist, ''The Cam near Trinity College, Cambridge'', England (''U. atinia'')
</gallery>

=== In mythology and literature ===
[[File:Max Slevogt Achill.jpg|thumb|right|upright=0.86|Achilles and Scamander]]
[[File:Dryad (PSF).png|thumb|left|upright=0.72|Dryad]]
In Greek mythology, the nymph Ptelea (Πτελέα, Elm) was one of the eight [[hamadryad]]s, nymphs of the forest and daughters of Oxylos and Hamadryas.<ref>[[Athenaeus]], ''Δειπνοσοφισταί'', III</ref> In his ''Hymn to Artemis'', poet [[Callimachus]] (third century BC) tells how, at the age of three, the infant goddess [[Artemis]] practised her newly acquired silver bow and arrows, made for her by [[Hephaestus]] and the [[Cyclopes]], by shooting first at an elm, then at an oak, before turning her aim on a wild animal:

:πρῶτον ἐπὶ πτελέην, τὸ δὲ δεύτερον ἧκας ἐπὶ δρῦν, τὸ τρίτον αὖτ᾽ ἐπὶ θῆρα.<ref>Callimachus, ''Hymn to Artemis'', 120-121 [:First at an elm, and second at an oak didst thou shoot, and third again at a wild beast]. theoi.com/Text/CallimachusHymns1.html</ref>

The first reference in literature to elms occurs in the ''[[Iliad]]''. When [[Eetion]], father of [[Andromache]], is killed by [[Achilles]] during the [[Trojan War]], the [[Oreads|mountain nymphs]] plant elms on his tomb ("περί δὲ πτελέας ἐφύτευσαν νύμφαι ὀρεστιάδες, κoῦραι Διὸς αἰγιόχoιo").<ref>'and all about were elm trees planted by nymphs of the mountain, daughters of Zeus that beareth the aegis.' http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0134:book=6:card=414&highlight=elm ''Iliad'', Ζ, 419–420, www.perseus.tufts.edu] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130526174941/http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0134:book=6:card=414&highlight=elm |date=26 May 2013 }}</ref>
Also in the ''Iliad'', when the River [[Scamander]], indignant at the sight of so many corpses in his water, overflows and threatens to drown Achilles, the latter grasps a branch of a great elm in an attempt to save himself ("ὁ δὲ πτελέην ἕλε χερσὶν εὐφυέα μεγάλην".<ref>[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0217:book=21:card=114&highlight=elm ''Iliad'', Φ, 242–243, www.perseus.tufts.edu] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130526132429/http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0217:book=21:card=114&highlight=elm |date=26 May 2013 }}</ref>

The nymphs also planted elms on the tomb in the [[Thracian Chersonese]] of "great-hearted [[Protesilaus]]" ("μεγάθυμου Πρωτεσιλάου"), the first Greek to fall in the Trojan War. These elms grew to be the tallest in the known world, but when their topmost branches saw far off the ruins of Troy, they immediately withered, so great still was the bitterness of the hero buried below, who had been loved by [[Laodamia]] and slain by [[Hector]].<ref>[[Philostratus of Lemnos|Philostratus]], '' ̔Ηρωικός'', 3,1 perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A2008.01.0597%3Aolpage%3D672</ref><ref>[[Quintus Smyrnaeus]], ''Τα μεθ' `Ομηρον'', 7.458–462</ref><ref>[[Pliny the Elder]], ''Naturalis Historia'', 16.88</ref>  The story is the subject of a poem by [[Antiphilus of Byzantium]] (first century AD) in the [[Palatine Anthology]]:

:Θεσσαλὲ Πρωτεσίλαε, σὲ μὲν πολὺς ᾄσεται αἰών,
:Tρoίᾳ ὀφειλoμένoυ πτώματος ἀρξάμενoν•
:σᾶμα δὲ τοι πτελέῃσι συνηρεφὲς ἀμφικoμεῦση
:Nύμφαι, ἀπεχθoμένης Ἰλίoυ ἀντιπέρας.
:Δένδρα δὲ δυσμήνιτα, καὶ ἤν ποτε τεῖχoς ἴδωσι
:Tρώϊον, αὐαλέην φυλλοχoεῦντι κόμην.
:ὅσσoς ἐν ἡρώεσσι τότ᾽ ἦν χόλoς, oὗ μέρoς ἀκμὴν
:ἐχθρὸν ἐν ἀψύχoις σώζεται ἀκρέμoσιν.<ref>''Anth. Pal.'', 7.141</ref>

:[:Thessalian Protesilaos, a long age shall sing your praises,
:Of the destined dead at Troy the first;
:Your tomb with thick-foliaged elms they covered,
:The nymphs, across the water from hated Ilion.
:Trees full of anger; and whenever that wall they see,
:Of Troy, the leaves in their upper crown wither and fall.
:So great in the heroes was the bitterness then, some of which still
:Remembers, hostile, in the soulless upper branches.]

Protesilaus had been king of [[Pteleos]] ({{lang|grc|Πτελεός}}) in Thessaly, which took its name from the abundant elms ({{lang|grc|πτελέoι}}) in the region.<ref>Lucas, F. L., ''From Olympus to the Styx'' (London, 1934)</ref>

Elms occur often in [[Pastoral|pastoral poetry]], where they symbolise the idyllic life, their shade being mentioned as a place of special coolness and peace. In the first Idyll of [[Theocritus]] (third century BC), for example, the goatherd invites the shepherd to sit "here beneath the elm" ("δεῦρ' ὑπὸ τὰν πτελέαν") and sing. Beside elms, Theocritus places "the [[Sacred waters|sacred water]]" ("{{lang|grc|το ἱερὸν ὕδωρ}}") of the Springs of the Nymphs and the shrines to the nymphs.<ref>Theocritus, ''Eιδύλλιo'' I, 19–23; VII, 135–40</ref>
[[File:The Sibyl of Cumae Leading Aeneas to the Underworld.jpg|thumb|right|upright=0.81|The Sibyl and Aeneas]]
Aside from references literal and metaphorical to the [[The Elm and the Vine|elm and vine]] theme, the tree occurs in Latin literature in the Elm of Dreams in the [[Aeneid]].<ref>Vergil, ''Aeneid'', VI. 282–5</ref> When the [[Cumaean Sibyl|Sibyl of Cumae]] leads [[Aeneas]] down to the [[Underworld]], one of the sights is the Stygian Elm:

:In medio ramos annosaque bracchia pandit
:ulmus opaca, ingens, quam sedem somnia vulgo
:uana tenere ferunt, foliisque sub omnibus haerent.

:[:Spreads in the midst her boughs and agéd arms
:an elm, huge, shadowy, where vain dreams, 'tis said,
:are wont to roost them, under every leaf close-clinging.]

[[Virgil]] refers to a Roman superstition (''vulgo'') that elms were trees of ill-omen because their fruit seemed to be of no value.<ref>Richens, R. H., ''Elm'' (Cambridge 1983) p.155</ref> It has been noted<ref>Richens, R. H., ''Elm'', Ch.10 (Cambridge, 1983)</ref> that two elm-motifs have arisen from classical literature: (1) the 'Paradisal Elm' motif, arising from pastoral idylls and the elm-and-vine theme, and (2) the 'Elm and Death' motif, perhaps arising from Homer's commemorative elms and Virgil's Stygian Elm. Many references to elm in European literature from the Renaissance onwards fit into one or other of these categories.

There are two examples of ''pteleogenesis'' (:birth from elms) in world myths. In Germanic and Scandinavian mythology the first woman, [[Ask and Embla|Embla]], was fashioned from an elm,<ref>Heybroek, H. M., 'Resistant Elms for Europe' (1982) in ''Research on Dutch Elm Disease in Europe'', HMSO, London 1983</ref>
while in Japanese mythology [[Kamuy Fuchi]], the chief goddess of the [[Ainu people]], "was born from an elm impregnated by the Possessor of the Heavens".<ref name=Wilkinson>Wilkinson, Gerald, ''Epitaph for the Elm'' (London, 1978), p.87</ref>
[[File:English Elm Preston Park Brighton.jpg|thumb|right|upright=0.81|Under the elm, [[Brighton]], 2006]]
The elm occurs frequently in English literature, one of the best known instances being in Shakespeare's ''[[A Midsummer Night's Dream]]'', where Titania, Queen of the Fairies, addresses her beloved Nick Bottom using an elm-simile. Here, as often in the elm-and-vine motif, the elm is a masculine symbol:

:Sleep thou, and I will wind thee in my arms.
:... the female Ivy so
:Enrings the barky fingers of the Elm.
:O, how I love thee! how I dote on thee!<ref>Shakespeare, ''A Midsummer Night's Dream'', Act 4, Scene 1</ref>

Another of the most famous kisses in English literature, that of Paul and Helen at the start of Forster's ''[[Howards End]]'', is stolen beneath a great wych elm.
 
The elm tree is also referenced in children's literature.  ''An Elm Tree and Three Sisters'' by [[Norma Sommerdorf]] is a children's book about three young sisters who plant a small elm tree in their backyard.<ref>{{cite web|last=Janssen|first=Carolyn|title=An elm tree and three sisters (Book Review)|url=http://connection.ebscohost.com/c/articles/4076749|publisher=ebscohost|access-date=21 September 2012}}</ref>

=== In politics ===
The [[cutting of the elm]] was a diplomatic altercation between the kings of France and England in 1188, during which an elm tree near Gisors in Normandy was felled.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.crystalinks.com/prioryofsion.html|title=Priory of Sion|website=Crystalinks|access-date=March 15, 2020}}</ref>

In politics, the elm is associated with revolutions. In England after the [[Glorious Revolution]] of 1688, the final victory of parliamentarians over monarchists, and the arrival from Holland, with [[William III of England|William III]] and [[Mary II of England|Mary II]], of the [[Ulmus 'Major'|Dutch elm]] hybrid, planting of this cultivar became a fashion among enthusiasts of the new political order.<ref name=Rackham1976>Rackham, O. (1976). ''Trees and Woodland in the British Landscape'' J. M. Dent, London.</ref><ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Armstrong | first1 = J. V. | last2 = Sell | first2 = P. D. | year = 1996 | title = A revision of the British elms (''Ulmus'' L., Ulmaceae): the historical background | journal = Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society | volume = 120 | pages = 39–50 | doi = 10.1111/j.1095-8339.1996.tb00478.x | url = https://geoscience.net/ftxt.php?pdf=002742058 | access-date = 26 October 2017 | url-status = live | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20171026105217/https://geoscience.net/ftxt.php?pdf=002742058 | archive-date = 26 October 2017 | df = dmy-all | doi-access = free }}</ref>
 
In the [[American Revolution]], the [[Liberty Tree]] was an American white elm in [[Boston]], Massachusetts, in front of which, from 1765, the first resistance meetings were held against British attempts to tax the American colonists without democratic representation. When the British, knowing that the tree was a symbol of rebellion, felled it in 1775, the Americans took to widespread Liberty Elm planting, and sewed elm symbols on to their revolutionary flags.<ref name="Richens, Elm Cambridge, 1983">Richens, ''Elm'' (Cambridge, 1983)</ref><ref>elmcare.com/about_elms/history/liberty_elm_boston.htm</ref> Elm planting by American Presidents later became something of a tradition.

In the [[French Revolution]], too, ''Les arbres de la liberté'' (Liberty Trees), often elms, were planted as symbols of revolutionary hopes, the first in [[Vienne, Isère|Vienne]], Isère, in 1790, by a priest inspired by the Boston elm.<ref name="Richens, Elm Cambridge, 1983"/> ''L'Orme de La Madeleine'' (:the Elm of La Madeleine), Faycelles, Département de Lot, planted around 1790 and surviving to this day, was a case in point.<ref>[http://www.giuseppemusolino.it/?p=232 L'Orme de La Madeleine, giuseppemusolino.it] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140226200846/http://www.giuseppemusolino.it/?p=232 |date=26 February 2014 }}</ref> By contrast, a famous Parisian elm associated with the ''Ancien Régime'', ''L'Orme de Saint-Gervais'' in the [[St-Gervais-et-St-Protais|Place St-Gervais]], was ''felled'' by the revolutionaries; church authorities planted a new elm in its place in 1846, and an early 20th-century elm stands on the site today.<ref name="paris.fr">[http://www.paris.fr/pratique/vegetation/arbres/mais-qu-est-ce-qu-il-a-cet-orme/rub_8350_stand_99131_port_19379 ''L'Orme de St-Gervais: biographie d'un arbre'', www.paris.fr] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130906202808/http://www.paris.fr/pratique/vegetation/arbres/mais-qu-est-ce-qu-il-a-cet-orme/rub_8350_stand_99131_port_19379 |date=6 September 2013 }}</ref> Premier [[Lionel Jospin]], obliged by tradition to plant a tree in the garden of the [[Hôtel Matignon]], the official residence and workplace of Prime Ministers of France, insisted on planting an elm, so-called 'tree of the Left', choosing the new disease-resistant hybrid 'Clone 762' ([[Ulmus 'Wanoux' = Vada|''Ulmus'' 'Wanoux' = {{tdes|Vada|caps}}]]).<ref>''Ulmus'' 'Wanoux' (Vada)) freeimagefinder.com/detail/6945514690.html</ref> In the [[French Republican Calendar]], in use from 1792 to 1806, the 12th day of the month [[Ventôse]] (= 2 March) was officially named "jour de l'Orme", Day of the Elm.

Liberty Elms were also planted in other countries in Europe to celebrate their revolutions, an example being ''L'Olmo di Montepaone, L'Albero della Libertà'' (:the Elm of Montepaone, Liberty Tree) in [[Montepaone]], [[Calabria]], planted in 1799 to commemorate the founding of the democratic [[Parthenopean Republic]], and surviving until it was brought down by a recent storm (it has since been cloned and 'replanted').<ref>[http://www.calabriaonline.com/specialecol/rubriche/storia_e_curiosita/olmo_di_montepaone.php calabriaonline.com] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130530133041/http://www.calabriaonline.com/specialecol/rubriche/storia_e_curiosita/olmo_di_montepaone.php |date=30 May 2013 }}</ref> After the [[Greek Revolution]] of 1821–32, a thousand young elms were brought to Athens from [[Missolonghi]], "Sacred City of the Struggle" against the Turks and scene of [[Lord Byron]]'s death, and planted in 1839–40 in the National Garden.<ref>''Ο μοναδικός Εθνικός μας Κήπος'', paidevo.gr/teachers/?p=859</ref><ref>Νίκος Μπελαβίλας, ΜΥΘΟΙ ΚΑΙ ΠΡΑΓΜΑΤΙΚΟΤΗΤΕΣ ΓΙΑ ΤΟ ΜΗΤΡΟΠΟΛΙΤΙΚΟ
ΠΑΡΚΟ ΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΟΥ, courses.arch.ntua.gr/fsr/112047/Nikos_Belavilas-Mythoi_kai_Pragmatikotites</ref> In an ironic development, feral elms have spread and invaded the grounds of the abandoned Greek royal summer palace at [[Tatoi]] in [[Attica]].

In a chance event linking elms and revolution, on the morning of his execution (30 January 1649), walking to the scaffold at the [[Palace of Whitehall]], [[Charles I of England|King Charles I]] turned to his guards and pointed out, with evident emotion, an elm near the entrance to [[Spring Gardens]] that had been planted by his [[Henry Frederick, Prince of Wales|brother]] in happier days. The tree was said to be still standing in the 1860s.<ref>[[Elizabeth and Mary Kirby]], ''Talks about Trees: a popular account of their nature and uses'', 3rd edn., p.97-98 (1st edn. titled ''Chapters on Trees: a popular account of their nature and uses'', London, 1873)</ref>

<gallery>
File:LibertyTreePlanting.jpg|Planting a Liberty Tree (''un arbre de la liberté'') during the [[French Revolution]]. [[Jean-Baptiste Lesueur (painter)|Jean-Baptiste Lesueur]], 1790
File:Balcony St-Gervais.jpg|Balcony with elm symbol, overlooking the [[St-Gervais-et-St-Protais|'Crossroads of the Elm']], Place Saint-Gervais, Paris<ref name="paris.fr"/>
File:President George W. Bush and Laura Bush take part in the planting of three elm trees.jpg|President George W. Bush and Laura Bush planting a disease-resistant [[Ulmus americana 'Jefferson'|'Jefferson' Elm]] before the White House, 2006
File:TATOI PALACE.JPG|Elm suckers spreading before the abandoned summer royal palace in Tatoi, Greece, Μarch 2008
</gallery>

=== In local history and place names ===
The name of what is now the London neighbourhood of [[Seven Sisters, London|Seven Sisters]] is derived from seven elms which stood there at the time when it was a rural area, planted a circle with a [[walnut]] tree at their centre, and traceable on maps back to 1619.<ref name=Histmiddx>Tottenham: Growth before 1850', A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 5: Hendon, Kingsbury, Great Stanmore, Little Stanmore, Edmonton Enfield, Monken Hadley, South Mimms, Tottenham (1976)</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.londongardensonline.org.uk/gardens-online-record.php?ID=HGY027|title=London Gardens Online|website=www.londongardensonline.org.uk|access-date=2018-01-26|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180127233420/http://www.londongardensonline.org.uk/gardens-online-record.php?ID=HGY027|archive-date=27 January 2018|df=dmy-all}}</ref>