TfiE Trees of Vermont 



SALICACEAE 



White Poplar. Silver-leaved Poplar 

 Populus alba L. 



Habit. — A large tree 50-75 feet high, with a trunk diameter of 

 2-4 feet, forming a large, spreading, rounded or irregular crown of 

 large, crooked branches and sparse, stout branchlets. 



Leaves. — Alternate, simple, 2-4 inches long and almost as broad ; 

 broadly ovate to suborbicular ; irregularly toothed, sinuate, or some- 

 times 3-5-lobed ; glabrous, dark green above, white-tomentose to gla- 

 brous beneath ; petioles long, slender, flattened, tomentose. 



Flowers. — April-May, before the leaves ; dioecious ; the staminate 

 catkins thick, cylindrical, 2-4 inches long; the pistillate catkins slender, 

 1-2 inches long; calyx 0; corolla 0; stamens 6-16, with purple anthers: 

 stigmas 2, yellow. 



Fruit. — May-June ; ovoid, 2-valved capsules, ys-yi inch long, 

 borne in drooping catkins 2-4 inches long ; seeds light brown, sur- 

 rounded by long, white hairs. 



Winter-buds. — Ovoid, pointed, not viscid, downy, about ^ inch 

 long. 



Bark.— Twigs greenish, covered with a white down, becoming 

 greenish gray and marked with darker blotches ; dark gray and fissured 

 at the base of old trunks. 



Wood. — Light, soft, weak, difficult to split, reddish yellow, with 

 thick, whitish sapwood. 



Notes. — The white poplar is a native of Europe and Asia. It is 

 hardy in Vermont, and is cultivated frequently, occasionally becoming 

 an escape. It grows rapidly in good soils but thrives also in poor soils 

 and in exposed situations. The deep roots produce numerous suckers 

 for a considerable distance from the tree. 



