The Lewisham Elm

Dutch elm disease killed some 20 million English elms. This elm in a Lewisham park, which local reporting calls the borough's great survivor, is still standing. It is one of very few mature elms left in London, and if its plaque is right, it may be the last of its kind in Britain. The plaque is where the argument starts. The council sign names it as a Flanders elm, Ulmus x hollandica 'Klemmer', and it is thought to be the only remaining specimen of that cultivar in Britain. The Tree Register, quoted on Wikipedia's Great Trees of London list, says it is something else, a European white elm, Ulmus laevis, and the Ladywell Fields tree walk notes that some experts agree. We list it as a European white elm and keep the question open. If you know elms well enough to settle it, tell us. Whatever it is, it was one of the original 41 Great Trees of London, and it is the only tree in Ladywell Fields with a sign of its own. Nobody has published its age, height or girth. Local reporting in 2021 said the tree could live another 200 years. A local resident had grown two saplings from seed collected in May 2018, and the council agreed they could be planted in the park. The park is free and open at all times, five minutes from Ladywell station. Follow the riverside path into the middle field.