Hello Brent,

At 08:57 AM 7/24/04 -0400, wrote:
I was under the impression that Nire is simply the Japanese word for elm.
Sometimes I see this name attached to Zelkova. Recently I was told that
'Nire' is a specific cultivar of Ulmus parvifolia.

Iris

On Sat, 24 Jul 2004 08:32:00 -0400, Brent Walston wrote:

Sorry I can't give you any authoritative sources, but I was under the
impression that Nire was the species Ulmus parvifolia and the variegated
form was 'Fuiri'. This appears to be the parent of 'Frosty' since 'Frosty'
frequently reverts to this larger variegated form, so much so, that I gave
up trying to grow 'Frosty' and settled on 'Fuiri', which I think is a
superior plant for bonsai even if it is larger.

snip

I checked a number of sources for nire. The first was a comprehensive
Japanese - English dictionary that had a simple translation of 'elm'.
The second source was Nelson's kanji dictionary where the definition of the
kanji for nire was also simply translated as elm.


I wish we had more Japanese members who could shed some light on
this situation.


For a Japanese bonsai source I also checked "The Japanese Art of
Miniature Trees and Landscapes" by Yoshimura and Halford. (If you can't
trust Yuji Yoshimura, who can you trust?) Under 'nire' in Appendix 3, where
the Japanese names are translated and detailed, it says "See 7 Aki-nire, 77
Haru-nire". Not much immediate help but, under Aki-nire, which could be
roughly translated as 'autumn elm', the name is translated as "Chinese elm.
Ulmus parvifolia Jacq." Other Japanese names given under Aki-nire are nire,
ishi-geyaki, and nire-geyaki (a commonly used name in Japanese language
texts, translated as elm-zelkova).
Under Haru-nire, which could be roughly translated as 'spring elm', the
name is translated as "Japanese elm. Ulmus davidiana Planch. var. japonica
Nakai; U. campestris Sm. var. japonica Rehd.; U. japonica Sarg." No other
Japanese synonyms are given. I have not seen this name in my recent reading
of Japanese bonsai books and magazines, but I have seen a few examples of
the Japanese elm grown in Zone 3. Its leaves are smaller than U. americana
but bigger than those of the locally hardy Siberian elm, U. pumila.
Hopefully this helps.

Best wishes in bonsai,
Les Dowdell
who grows Siberian elms in Zone 3.

************************************************** ******************************
++++Sponsored, in part, by Chris Cochrane++++
************************************************** ******************************
-- The IBC HOME PAGE & FAQ: http://www.internetbonsaiclub.org/ --
+++++ Questions? Help? e-mail +++++