The tree was first recorded by country parson and botanist Adam Buddle in south-east Essex in 1711,[2] and appeared as U. cicestria in an 1801 catalogue.

Adam Buddle originally identified the tree as 'a broad-leaved smooth Wych Elm' that grew 'plentifully about Danbury'.

[6] A distinguishing feature of 'Vegeta', according to Schneider (1906) and Mitchell (1974), is that the leaf margins to right and left of the petiole start from a vein, not from the midrib.

[12] Chichester Elm was marketed as U. cicestria in 1801 by nurseryman George Lindley of Catton, Norwich;[2] his 1815 catalogue lists the tree as U. Cicestriensis.

[13] It is possible that the tree owes its Cambridge introduction to John Lindley, whose 1823 revision of Donn's (d. 1813) Hortus Cantabrigiensis contains the first reference, bestowed by him, to the Chichester Elm as U.

[16] In the early 20th century the Gembrook or Nobelius Nursery described it as a large tree of upright growth with broad leaves, listing it separately from Huntingdon Elm and Ulmus 'Canadian Giant'.

Two notable examples survive, courtesy of their isolation from diseased stock, at Queens' College, Cambridge, 44 m (144 ft) in height (2009).

[20] DNA testing by the forestry research team at Roslin in 2013 confirmed that the supposed Chichester Elms in Old Foster Hill Road Cemetery, Bedford (died c.2015), and in Norwich were the same clone as the Queens' trees.

[24] The now-felled Chichester Elm in Old Foster Hill Road Cemetery, Bedford, is reported to produce root suckers.