The tree was originally identified as 'Pendula' by Loddiges (London), in his catalogue of 1836, a name adopted by Loudon two years later in Arboretum et Fruticetum Britannicum, 3: 1398, 1838, but later sunk as a synonym for 'Horizontalis'.

It is usually grafted onto a tall understock of Ulmus glabra to effectively display its weeping habit.

[2] It can be distinguished from the related Camperdown Elm by its more spreading and flattened canopy and much larger mature size, although its shape does vary widely, as noted by Loudon: "A beautiful...tree generally growing to one side, spreading its branches out in a fan-like manner...sometimes horizontally and at other times almost perpendicularly downwards so that the head of the tree exhibits great variety of shape".

The cultivar was found in a bed of seedling in the Perth Nursery, the plant was purchased by Booth of Hamburg, Germany, who then distributed it.

"champion" trees in the British Isles: one at Rathmullan House, County Donegal, measuring 6 metres (20 ft) high by 114 centimetres (45 in) DBH in 2010, and the other at Glen Mooar, Isle of Man, measuring 14 metres (46 ft) high by 84 centimetres (33 in) DBH in 1998.