Hackney Elms V6

2 ELM TREES IN HACKNEY 1 The bark B of an elm tree Elms are arguably some of Britain’s oldest trees. is corky, dark grey and deeply From pollen records in fossils, they are known to furrowed. have been widespread across Britain in Neolithic Elms have small flowers, forests. English Elms are some of the UK's oldest which appear before the living trees. They are thought to have been brought leaves and give the tree a here by Bronze Age farmers around 5000 years ago B purple colour in February Anne © Woollett from their native South East Europe. and March. The flowers have male and female parts, and USES OF ELM WOOD the fertilised seeds develop Elm timber is very durable in wet conditions. It has into bunches of parchment- been used for hundreds of years to make water- like oval wings with the seed pipes, wharfs, ships, weather-boarding, hubs of on the middle C. In the UK, cartwheels, wheelbarrows, floorboards and coffins. C elm seeds are rarely viable. Eugene © Clerkin The irregular and intricate grain patterns of the Elm trees usually reproduce by suckering from wood make it popular for furniture and sculpture. the roots, thus producing genetically identical trees (a fine example of this is in Abney Park Cemetery). IDENTIFYING ELM TREES It is thought that this lack of genetic variation is the Elm leaves A are Double- main reason for the catastrophic decline in English arranged alternately A toothed Elms due to Dutch Elm Disease (see below). on the twigs. The edges edges are DUTCH ELM DISEASE double-toothed; This is a microscopic fungus, Ophiostoma novo- that is, the main ulmi, which blocks the transport vessels of the tree Clerkin © Eugene teeth themselves by interfering with its hormones. The fungus fruits have toothed under the bark of infected trees, where two species edges. The base of © Trier Mike of Scolytus bark beetle breed. The beetles spread the leaf is lower on one side of the stalk the spores, each one carrying up to half-a-million A fine Huntingdon Elm, in seed, on Hackney Downs. spores. The disease is also dispersed through the This hybrid of Wych Elm and Smooth-leaved Elm is than on the other root systems of elm trees that produce suckers. more resistant to Dutch Elm Disease than English Elm. (‘asymmetrical’). Asymmetrical base Dutch Elm Disease in Britain has caused the The leaves of the three native species of elm loss of more than 25 million elms since the 1960s – PUBLIC TRANSPORT vary in size, shape, colour and hairiness: especially English Elms. The devastating outbreak Buses: All areas are near to bus routes. See: Wych Elm Ulmus glabra in 1971 came from imported elm timber which had www.tfl.gov.uk/buses; or phone 020 7222 1234 10–18cm long; very rough hairs on upper surface not been stripped of its bark. Trains: Some nearby stations are marked (rub from tip to base); leaf stalk shorter than 3mm.

ELM SURVEY Smooth-leaved (or Dutch) Elm Ulmus minor Less than 7cm long and usually longer than wide; The Natural History Museum is collecting data on This leaflet was prepared by Anne Woollett and Mike glossy bright green and smooth on upper surface; the few thousand elms which still survive. They Trier with assistance from Prue Poulton, Ian Graham, variable shape. hope to understand more about Dutch Elm Disease Annie Chipchase, Russell Miller and Eugene Clerkin. and why some trees are more resistant than others. English (or Common) Elm Ulmus procera For copies of the leaflet contact 020 8985 1256, or see Visit www.nhm.ac.uk/science/biodiversity and Less than 7cm long, broadly oval to circular; hairy www.ramblers.org.uk/elms for further information. www.hackneyenvironment.org.uk stalk when mature. LOCATIONS OF MATURE NORTH HACKNEY KEY N Abney Park Cemetery ELM TREES IN HACKNEY Surviving elm trees Some regenerated English Elms along and near Hackney Borough Great Elm Walk in Abney Park Cemetery. There are over 30 mature elm trees in boundary Hackney, but we are still losing them Springfield Park to Dutch Elm Disease. The map shows Huntingdon Elm at northern edge of Springfield their approximate locations, and the CLAPTON Park by Spring Hill. Another lower down.

New River COMMON POINT list (opposite) gives further details. HORSESHOE HOLMLEIGH EAST HACKNEY CUTTING SPRINGFIELD Hackney Downs R. Lea PARK Two large Huntingdon Elms along Hackney Downs StokeReservoirs Newington Road and two smaller Smooth-leaved Elms along MIDDLESEX Downs Park Road. MILLFIELDS FILTER BEDS ABNEY PARK STOKE PARK CEMETERY NEWINGTON Clapton Pond CLISSOLD COMMON Smooth-leaved Elm at Clapton Pond. PARK CLAPTON POND HACKNEY Millfields MARSHES R. Lea Navigation Huntingdon Elms grow in the avenue of HACKNEY (Hackney Cut) tall plane and elm trees in North Millfields DOWNS WICK ST. JOHN’S WOOD (10) and South Millfields (14). CHURCHYARD Also alongside Fletching Road (the

VICTORIA R. Lea largest in the Borough, with a girth of WELL STREET PARK 333cm/12ft) and Lea Bridge, Wattisfield LONDON COMMON and Chatsworth Roads. FIELDS CHURCHYARD, LAURISTON RD Hackney Marshes Regents Canal Newly planted elms by south car park on Hackney © Anne © Woollett Marshes, by Homerton Road. The trees with the dark bark are Huntingdon Elms Ulmus x HAGGERSTON hollandica 'vegetata’ – here on North Millfields. The bark Wenlock PARK Basin SHOREDITCH Wick Wood easily distinguishes them from the London Planes – the PARK other trees in this avenue. Two Smooth-leaved Elms by row of planes in Wick 0 2 miles 5km Wood.

SOUTH HACKNEY Most of Hackney's mature elms are Huntingdon Elm More recent plantings have been Smooth-leaved Elm. Churchyard, Lauriston Road – a hybrid of Wych Elm with Smooth-leaved Elm. It does not grow as tall as Huntingdon Elm and the leaves Large Huntingdon Elm in St. John of Jerusalem They were planted when the Lammas Lands came are smaller. churchyard near junction with Balcorne Street. into public ownership in the 1880s–1890s. In Abney Park and on Millfields and Hackney Marshes, Huntingdon Elm in back garden of house in This hybrid is less susceptible to Dutch Elm elms have regenerated themselves from their roots; but, Penshurst Road, visible from Banbury Road. Disease than English Elm, but some die each year once they grow to about 6m (20ft), the disease takes hold and have to be cut down. North Millfields lost two in and they die. There are some new plantings of elm trees in If you know of any elms trees in Hackney to add to 2003; the remaining elm on Stoke Newington many of Hackney’s parks which are considered to be more this list, please contact Hackney’s Tree Officer: Common became infected, and was felled in 2005. resistant to disease. [email protected]