The Trees of Vermont 



SALICACEAE 



Lombardy Poplar 



Populus nigra itallca DuRoi [Populus fastigiata Desf.] [Populus 



dilatata Ait.] 



Habit. — A tree 75-100 feet high, with a short, ridged and but- 

 tressed trunk 4-6 feet in diameter and a narrow, spire-Hke crown of 

 erect branches. 



Leaves. — Alternate, simple, 2-4 inches long, and usually somewhat 

 broader than long ; broad-deltoid, abruptly acuminate at the apex ; 

 finely but bluntly crenate-serrate ; thick and firm ; dark green and shin- 

 ing above, lighter and more or less lustrous beneath ; petioles slender, 

 laterally compressed, 1-2 inches long. 



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

 in sessile, dark red, cylindrical catkins about 3 inches long; the pistillate 

 not present in the United States ; calyx ; corolla ; stamens about 8, 

 with white filaments and purple anthers. 



Fruit. — Not formed in the United States in the absence of pistil- 

 late flowers. 



Winter-buds. — -Terminal bud conical, slightly angled, taper- 

 pointed, glutinous, about ^ inch long; lateral buds smaller, appressed. 



Bark. — Twigs glabrous, shining yellow, becoming gray ; thick and 

 gray-brown on old trunks, deeply and irregularly furrowed. 



Wood.— Light, soft, easily worked, not liable to splinter, weak, not 

 durable, light red-brown, with thick, nearly white sapwood. 



Notes. — This tree is thought to be a native of Afghanistan. It is 

 frequently cultivated in Vermont and tends to spread by sprouting from 

 the roots. It is used for ornamental purposes on account of its very 

 rapid growth ; but it is short-lived, its limbs die early, and these remain, 

 causing the tree to become unsightly in a very few years. 



