The elm cultivar Ulmus 'Hillieri' arose from a chance seedling at Hillier's Pitt Corner nursery near Winchester, England, in 1918,[1] and was marketed from 1928 as Ulmus hillieri,[2] a name accepted by Christine Buisman in her 1931 labelling of a specimen in France.

Since at least 1944 the tree has been determined a form of Ulmus × hollandica, its designation at Kew Gardens, in Green,[3] and in later Hillier catalogues.

[8] A specimen stood in the Arboretum national des Barres, Nogent-sur-Vernisson, France, in the 1930s.

[9] An old low shrub-elm in Stanmer Park Arboretum, Brighton (2018, now storm-damaged), planted in the winter of 1965-6, with level rather than pendulous branching and leaves closely matching 'Hillieri' herbarium specimens in Kew Herbarium[10] and the Arboretum national des Barres,[7] was said (2018) by Hillier Nurseries, who supplied many elms to the arboretum, to be 'Hillieri',[11] though it is about 4 m tall and lacks crimson autumn colour.

[12] A tree cultivated in Denmark as Ulmus × hollandica 'Hillieri' or Dukke-elm (:Doll's elm) appears from photographs to be U.