[4] Loudon added a general description in 1838,[2] and the Cambridge University Herbarium acquired a leaf specimen of the tree in 1866.

[5][6] Elwes and Henry (1913) also considered Loudon's Ulmus campestris viminalis to be Dr Plot's elm.

[7] On the Continent, 'Viminalis' was the Ulmus antarctica Hort., 'zierliche Ulme' [:'dainty elm'] of Kirchner's Arboretum Muscaviense (1864).

[7][14] Leaves vary from obovate-elliptic to narrowly elliptic; they are deeply serrated, < 5.0 cm long, tapering to a nearly symmetrical base and long-acuminate at the tip, with prominent white axil tufts on the undersides.

"[20] The old specimen in Lydiard Street, Ballarat, Victoria, however (see 'Notable trees'), produces abundant fruit, the seed being close to the marginal notch in somewhat broad samarae.

'Viminalis' was valued for its ornamental qualities, Wood (1851) considering it "well adapted for the back part of shrubberies".

[13] Bean (1936) called it "a charming small tree for gardens, very elegant and not growing fast",[20] while the catalogue of Hillier & Sons, Winchester, Hampshire, (1958) described it as "an extremely graceful, slender tree of slow growth, easily distinguished from all other elms by its narrow, fimbriated leaves".

[8] Specimens were present in many of the major UK collections, including Cambridge University Botanic Garden (see 'Notable trees' below), Kew Gardens (35 ft., 1913),[7] Westonbirt Arboretum (49 ft., 1927),[22] Royal Victoria Park, Bath (1857, 1905),[23][3] and Ryston Hall arboretum, Norfolk (planted as U. antarctica, 1914).

[28] In continental Europe, North America and Australasia a few specimens survive in arboreta and avenues.

[35][36] A specimen of the same cultivar, apparently unpollarded, stands in Lydiard Street, Ballarat, Victoria.

An old cultivar with leaves that appear to match herbarium specimens of Späth's U. campestris viminalis [59] stands (2018) in the middle of North Walk, The Meadows, Edinburgh (see gallery); a second, possibly the same clone and age, in the grounds of Holyrood Palace (both trees lost their crowns in a 2016 gale and are regenerating).