The Field Elm cultivar Ulmus minor 'Christine Buisman' was the first cultivar released by the Dutch elm breeding programme, initiated in response to the less virulent form of Dutch elm disease (DED), "Ophiostoma ulmi", which afflicted Europe's elms after the First World War. 'Christine Buisman' was selected from a batch of 390 seedlings grown from seed collected in the Parque de la Quinta de la Fuente del Berro, Madrid, by Mrs Van Eeghen, a friend of elm researcher Johanna Westerdijk, in 1929 and named for the elm disease researcher Christine Buisman. Originally identified as "Ulmus foliacea" (syn. "U. minor"), it was later treated as "Ulmus × hollandica" by Melville. However, more recent research in Belgium using DNA markers has reaffirmed 'Christine Buisman' as a clone of "U. minor".