The Trees of Vermont 69 



SALICACEAE 



Balsam Poplar. Tacainaliac 

 Populus balsamifera L. 



Habit. — A tree 50-75 feet high, with a trunk diameter of 1-3 feel ; 

 forming a rather narrow, open, pyramidal crown of few, slender, 

 horizontal branches. 



Leaves. — Alternate, simple, 3-6 inches long, about one-half as 

 broad ; ovate to ovate-lanceolate ; tinely crenate-serrate ; thin and firm ; 

 lustrous, dark green above, paler beneath; petioles XlA inches long, 

 slender, terete, smooth. 



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

 inate in long-stalked catkins 3-4 inches long; the pistilhite in loose- 

 fiowered, long-stalked catkins 4-5 inches long; calyx 0; corolla 0; 

 stamens 20-30, with bright red anthers ; ovary short-stalked ; stigmas 

 2, wavy-margined. 



Fruit. — May-June ; 2-valved, ovoid, short-pedicelled capsules 34 

 inch long, borne in drooping catkins 4-6 inches long ; seeds light brown, 

 hairy. 



Winter-buds. — Terminal bud about 1 inch long, ovoid, long- 

 pointed, brownish, resin-coated, sticky, fragrant. 



Bark. — Twigs red-brown, becoming dark orange, finally green- 

 gray; thick, grayish on old trunks, and shallowly fissured into broad, 

 rounded ridges, often roughened by dark excrescences. 



Wood. — Light, soft, weak, close-grained, light red-brown, with 

 thick, nearly white sapwood. 



Distribution. — Frequent throughout Vermont ; often planted as 

 a shade tree. 



Habitat. — Borders of streams and swamps ; wet ravines. 



Notes. — This tree is a northern species ranging from northern 

 New England to the Alaskan coast. It is subject to great variation 

 in the form of the leaves. Some are almost triangular with a deeply 

 heart-shape base, while others are very slender with a wedge-shape 

 base. The buds and young leaves are covered with a gummy excretion 

 which sometimes is soaked out and used in preparing ointments. It 

 is often confused with P. candicans, p. 71. 



