About: Ulmus × hollandica 'Smithii'

The hybrid elm cultivar Ulmus × hollandica 'Smithii', commonly known as the Downton Elm, was one of a number of cultivars arising from the crossing of the Wych Elm U. glabra with the Field Elm U. minor. The tree was originally planted at Downton Castle near Ludlow, as one of a batch, not all of them pendulous in habit, raised at Smith's Nursery, Worcester, England, from seeds obtained from a tree in Nottingham in 1810. 'Smithii' or 'Downton Elm' is absent from Smith's 1887–88 catalogue, which contains 23 elms, unless it is one listed as 'Weeping English Elm'.