N. ORD.—SALICACEZ. 162 
GENUS.—POPULUS,* TOURN. 
SEX. SYST.—DICECIA OCTANDRIA. 
FO? UL Uo. 
AMERICAN ASPEN. 
SYN.—POPULUS TREMULOIDES, MICHX. 
COM. NAMES.—AMERICAN ASPEN} OR POPLAR;} UPLAND OR WHITE 
POPLAR;? POPLE; (GER.) PAPPEL. 
A TINCTURE OF THE FRESH INNER BARK OF POPULUS TREMULOIDES, MICHX. 
Description.—This upland tree seldom reaches a height of over 40 feet. 
Bark smooth and greenish-white, except that of the old trunks; dvanches some- 
. what angular; duds large, scaly, and covered with a reddish-brown resinous 
varnish. Leaves orbicular-cordate, mostly broader than long, smooth and dark- 
green on both sides, and tipped with a short, sharp point; serrat#ons small, nearly 
regular; margin downy; petiole long and slender, laterally compressed to such 
extent as to make it nearly ancipital. This position of the flattened petiole at 
right angles to the leaf-blade accounts for the agitation of the leaf during the 
slightest zephyr. Jn/florescence dicecious, the male and female flowers in long, 
axillary, drooping, loosely imbricated aments, appearing before the leaves; sca/es 
oblong, cuneate, laciniate-lobed ; /odes 3 to 4 linear, pointed, the margins fringed 
with long cilia; flowers one to each scale, springing froma calyx-like urceolate 
torus, which is obliquely truncated anteriorly. Stamens about 12; filaments dis- 
tinct, capillary; azthers large and drooping, more or less quadrangular in form. 
Siyle none; stgmas 2, elongated, sessile, each bifurcating into linear lobes. 
Fruit an oblong or oblong-ovoid, pointed, 1-celled capsule, distinctly raised upon 
a peduncle ; seeds ovate, numerous, minute, covered with a copious wool. 
History and Habitat.—This beautiful white-trunked forest-tree, whose leaves 
have become the synonym of trembling, is indigenous to most parts of North 
America, where it is common on hillsides and in open forests. It blossoms in 
March or April, and fruits before the leaves are developed in May. Its wood is 
light and of an inferior quality, except for the lighter household utensils and the 
manufacture of certain chip hats. The Cree Indians—according to Mr. Walter 
Haydon, who has resided for : some time in the Hudson Bay territory—esteem iad 
* The ancient name, Arbor Populi, from its having been planted to shade the public walks; or, — to Ballet, 
because the constant motion of the leaves resembles that of the populace. 
+ Or asf, from the German esfe, a generic vulgarism. 
_ $ Sometimes applied to the Yellow Poplar or Tulip tree, Liriodendron tulipifera Teme 
4 The white esi is er the ies ae Fopetus alba, Linn, — - 
