22 NANTUCKET TREES 



was planted in Copp's burying ground, Boston, and shades 

 the grave of Cotton Mather. One is not told what coin- 

 cidence of name or interest caused that planting and 

 thus gave Boston and Nantucket a share in this historic 

 tree. 23 



There are many willows on Nantucket besides the 

 relic from St. Helena and only a specialist would ven- 

 ture to sort out the mixed population of species and 

 hybrids. The large tree in Ray's Court, Saltx DurDurea 

 L., shows to what stature a willow can attain. Salix 

 Dentandra L. , the laurel-leaved willow, is becoming an 

 ornamental planting. One of the most interesting na- 

 tive willows is Salix tristis Ait. It does not belong 

 in a discussion of trees as it is tiny even for a shrub. 

 On the open stretches of the south shore plain its low 

 clumps of silvery-grey leaves are as striking as white 

 flowers . 



Poplars are first cousins to the willows with 

 similar catkins in the spring. Outside the town the 

 aspen poplar, Povulus tremuloides Michx., is found in 

 roadside thickets. The white poplar, PoduIus alba L. , 

 is described by Bicknell as "spontaneous and spreading 

 in the neighborhood of the town and elsewhere." 4 The 

 thicket of young trees and suckers by the roadside on 

 Mill Hill is an illustration. It is a weed among the 

 grave-stones in Old North and Prospect Hill cemeteries. 

 On Union Street the Carolina poplar, PoduIus canadensis 

 Muench., approaches the tall, erect growth of the Lom- 

 bardy poplar. At the sandy end of Vestal Street the 

 Balm of Gilead, Povulus candicans Ait., is noticeable 

 for its aromatic, sticky buds. 



Main Street was planted to elms in 1852 after 

 the great fire of 1846. 46 Many of these died some ten 

 years ago but there were replantings. The hurricane of 

 19^4 has again taken toll of the elms. These trees 

 which grace Main Street are Ulmus americana L. , the white 

 elm, which is the glory of so many New England villages. 

 If one needs more than its "wine glass" shape for iden- 

 tification one may note the corky, ridged bark and the 

 ovate leaf with rough surfaces, saw-toothed edges and 

 unequal base. Ulmus glabra Huds . , the Scotch elm, has 



