Mystery hybrid elm quiz

Woocash

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Depends on who you're talking to, but, yes!
That much I can definitely agree with, but thanks! I kinda like it here.

Anyway, elms.... It’s pretty hard trying to work out which elm is wych at the best of times so trying to work out hybrids way outside my remit.
 

Mikecheck123

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Some updated photos. This is weirdly NOT an American elm. I repeat, this is NOT an American elm! Weird, huh?
 

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Mikecheck123

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So I had this baby DNA tested by the plant lab at Utah State.

They know this about it: it's not a hybrid, it only weakly matches Ulmus rubra and Ulmus pumilla.

But it is a 100% match for Ulmus laevis, the European white elm.

Crazy!

Now I'm more confused than ever, since the seed came either from Northeast Kansas or the CA Bay Area, both places where that species is virtually unheard of.
 

Mikecheck123

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In doing some research, this DNA id solves a lot of mysteries. Ulmus laevis in nature is a flood plain species that develops large buttressed roots, just like a bald cypress. That explains the seemingly instant nebari it grows. (Hey maybe someone should bonsai it!)

Also, young trees are described as having reddish flaking bark.

Lastly, the reason it looks sooooooo much like an American elm is because that's literally its closest relative.

And here's what's really cool: that similarity independently appeared on the DNA test. American elm was a fourth place match, behind three Ulmus laevis, one of which was a perfect match.

Screenshot 2023-07-07 132401.png
 

Mikecheck123

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Still, no DNA test will be able to solve the biggest mystery of all: how the hell did I accidentally come into possession of an Ulmus laevis seed?
 

Bonsai Nut

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Still, no DNA test will be able to solve the biggest mystery of all: how the hell did I accidentally come into possession of an Ulmus laevis seed?
This is so cool that you were able to have it genetically tested.

I get random seedlings all the time that come in via other trees. You never told us the back story about how you obtained the seed. Did it come from an adult tree, did you pick it up off the ground, did it come from a nursery? What is the origin story?
 

Mikecheck123

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This is so cool that you were able to have it genetically tested.

I get random seedlings all the time that come in via other trees. You never told us the back story about how you obtained the seed. Did it come from an adult tree, did you pick it up off the ground, did it come from a nursery? What is the origin story?
Here's the full origin story. I have a strangely detailed record of the history of this tree.

On June 3, 2019, I was driving along a dirt road in Northeast Kansas (Nemaha County) along a creek, when I spotted huge drifting mounds of cottonwood seeds along the side of the road. I had come prepared with ziploc bags, since that was actually on my grandfather's farm, and I was looking for souvenir cottonwood seeds. I scooped up two bags worth of seeds.

When I got back to the Bay Area a few days later, I planted the tufts of cottonwood seeds in a long container with potting soil as the main substrate, but with a surface dressing of red lava rocks. A week later, I had probably a dozen cottonwood seedlings.

IMG_20190609_153519.jpg

On June 9th, I went out of town for a business trip.

By the time I got back on June 12th, a slug had eaten every single cottonwood seedling! I caught him in the act. None were left whatsoever.

But my hopes were restored again, when a week after that, this seedling appeared:

IMG_20190622_081323.jpg

Naturally, I thought it was another cottonwood. I protected it from slugs, and treated it as my last hope of having a cottonwood from my grandpa's farm.

But in no time at all, it became clear that it was not a cottonwood at all. By mid-July, it was clear it was some kind of elm.

IMG_20190719_170322.jpg

So I assumed it was the notoriously weedy Siberian elm (which is all over the place in Kansas).

HOWEVER, by September, the tree, now already over 4 feet tall, had mysteriously large leaves. Far too large for a Siberian elm. And yet, it really didn't seem like an American. I then thought it was a hybrid of some sort.

IMG_20190907_093855.jpg

And I've been trying to figure out what it is ever since.
 

Mikecheck123

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Three possibilities:

1) Ulmus laevis has somehow established itself along that creek in Northeast Kansas.
2) Somehow an animal or bird dropped the seed into my pot in California from some established population there
3) Somehow the seed was already in the potting soil.

Among those three, (1) seems the most likely to me.
 

Bonsai Nut

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Among those three, (1) seems the most likely to me.
I agree. Very unusual... and very cool. I have a number of hitchhikers in my pots. Black walnuts are from the squirrels who dig the walnuts into my pots and then forget which pot they put them in. And I also have a fair number of red maples and sassafras - but they are all endemic to this area. I love "surprises" like this one. And as I said, it is rare for someone to be able to genetically test a tree so they know 100% what they have!
 

Mikecheck123

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I agree. Very unusual... and very cool. I have a number of hitchhikers in my pots. Black walnuts are from the squirrels who dig the walnuts into my pots and then forget which pot they put them in. And I also have a fair number of red maples and sassafras - but they are all endemic to this area. I love "surprises" like this one. And as I said, it is rare for someone to be able to genetically test a tree so they know 100% what they have!
Anyone CAN do it! Only $30. I take it that this is like a public service the university provides rather than a money making venture.

 

Mikecheck123

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Well, I think I solved the mystery! In 2021, I walked along that creek in Northeast Kansas where I had pick up the cottonwood seeds (back in 2019) and photographed some trees there that I thought were possibly parent trees of my hypothesized hybrid. There were quite a few Siberian elms down there, but I didn't find any slippery elms, so I was a bit disappointed.

But I also took a photograph of this tree. And Google Lens says that all of these pictures are the same species: Ulmus laevis!

I never really had a reason to do this before because with the similarity to American elm (and the location), I just figured it was an American elm. And at that time, I'd never even heard of Ulmus laevis!
 

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