Durable Dutch Elms

 

Jefferson won?EUR??,,????'???t be available to consumers for about four years. But specimens can be seen on the National Mall and efforts also are under way to propagate quantities for nursery cooperators.

A large-scale program to screen American elm trees for resistance to Dutch elm disease (DED) may lead to trees that can ward off this deadly disease, according to Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists and cooperators. The fungus that causes DED, Ophiostoma ulmi, has wiped out around 77 million American elms. To combat the deadly disease that originated in France, researchers screened thousands of American elm trees for resistance. Thanks to the efforts of ARS scientists with the U.S. National Arboretum in Washington, D.C., and collaborators, enough old specimens were located and kept alive to provide the germplasm necessary to develop DED-tolerant trees. The arboretum’s tree-breeding project was led by ARS geneticist Denny Townsend until his 2005 retirement. Townsend worked with horticulturalist Susan Bentz at the ARS Floral and Nursery Plants Research Unit in Glenn Dale, Md.

For more information go to ars.usda.gov.