DENDROLOGY. 251 



POPULUS. 



Diaecia Octandria. Linn. Amentaccae. Juss. Astringent, tonic, emollient. 



Carolinian Poplar. Populus artgulata. 



The lower part of Virginia is the most northern point at which 

 this species of poplar is found, and here it is less common than 

 in the Carolinas, in Georgia and in Lower Louisiana. It grows 

 of preference on the marshy banks of the great rivers which 

 traverse these states, and is peculiarly abundanfon the Mississippi, 

 from the ocean to the mouth of the Missouri, and along the 

 Missouri for 100 miles from the junction of these streams, which, 

 in following their windings, is a distance of 1500 miles. 



Among the numerous species of poplar of the United States, 

 this is one of the most remarkable for its size, being sometimes 

 80 feet in height with a proportional, diameter and an expansive 

 summit garnished with beautiful foliage. The leaves, from the 

 moment of their unfolding, are smooth and brilliant, but they 

 differ widely in conformation, at different ages" of the plant; on 

 sprouts and young stocks they are seven or eight inches long 

 and as much in breadth in the widest part, heart-shaped 

 and rounded at the base, with the principal ribs of a reddish 

 color ; on trees five or six inches in diameter, and thirty or forty 

 feet in height, they are only one-fourth as large, particularly on 

 the higher branches, and their base is nearly straight, and at right 

 angles with a petiole. These leaves are thin, smooth, of a fine 

 green tint, marked with yellowish nerves and edged with obtuse 

 teeth, which are fine towards the summit and coarser near the 

 base. The long petiole compressed in the upper part renders 

 them easy to be agitated by the wind. On sprouts and young 

 stocks the annual shoots are very thick, distinctly striated and of 

 a green complexion spotted with white ; on branches of the 

 second, third and even to the eighth year, the traces of the 

 furrows are still observable : they are indicated by prominent, 

 red lines in the bark terminating at the insertion of young shoots, 

 which ultimately disappear with the growth of the branches 



