[4] A contemporary herbarium specimen (1833) from Central Europe labelled U. tortuosa Host appears to show small field elm-type leaves.
[7] An U. campestris suberosa tortuosa was marketed in the 1930s by the Hesse Nursery of Weener, Germany, by its description a contorted form of corky-barked field elm.
[3][11] A hybrid zig-zag elm, possibly a form of 'Tortuosa' or 'Modiolina', stands beside South Trinity Rd, Edinburgh, in a position that suggests deliberate planting.
Like the latter, which "produces few seeds, and in some years none at all",[16] the Edinburgh tree is also sparsely flowering, and like l'orme tortillard it has frequent 'bosses' on trunk and branches, which sprout epicormic shoots.
The outline of the head, which is 60 feet (18 m) high, appears quite symmetrical; but the branches which form it run in every possible direction, like huge boa constrictors curled beneath the leaves.