Camperdown Elm

The Hull Public Library is gifted with one of the treasures of the Victoria Era a “Camperdown Elm”. Grafting a weeping variety with and upright trunk creates the “Camperdown Elm”, also known as the “Umbrella Elm” and the “Weeping Elm”. The parents of all “Camperdown Elms” are freak seedlings of Scotch Elm and Ulmus Galbafound on the estate of the Earl of Camperdown near Dundee, Scotland prior to 1850. The “Camperdown Elm” is a form of a dwarf forest tree. It develops massive limbs making a branch pattern that ascends twists and curves back to make an interesting fountain shape. The exact date of the library’s “Camperdown Elm” is not known but it is believed to have been planted in the late 1800’s.