The Field Elm cultivar Ulmus minor 'Purpurascens' was listed by Lavallée in Arboretum Segrezianum (1877) as U. campestris var. purpurascens (purpurea), but without description, and later by Schneider in Illustriertes Handbuch der Laubholzkunde (1904). Krüssmann in Handbuch der Laubgehölze (1962) identified it as a cultivar.
Schneider, Henry, and Green believed the cultivar 'Myrtifolia Purpurea', which was also first listed in 1877, a synonym of U minor 'Purpurascens'.
The tree has small leaves approximately 25 mm long, rough above, downy beneath, tinged with purple when young, but turning dark green later. The twigs are downy. Green noted that the tree usually remains small.
See under Ulmus minor.
A grafted tree at Kew Gardens labelled U. campestris var. purpurascens, planted in 1885, was 20 ft tall by 1912. (For specimens supplied by the Späth nursery as U. campestris myrtifolia purpurea, see 'Myrtifolia Purpurea'.)
Three trees survive in Hove, one of them the UK champion (see 'Accessions'). Until 2018 one was misidentified as the large-leaved purple elm U. ÃÂ hollandica 'Purpurascens'.