Minnesota Plant Life. 



239 



The balsam-poplar has longer, sticky leaves and the balm 

 of Gilead — a variety with more spreading branches — is culti- 

 vated as a shade tree in some parts of the state. The leaves 

 are dark green on one side and dirty l)ro\vn or white on the 

 other, and are considerably longer than those of any other Min- 

 nesota species. 



The Cottonwood, which may be distinguished from the white 

 poplar by the glistening paler green of its leaves, is an abund- 

 ant tree throughout the state, and is found along streams 

 where it often forms considerable forests. Under favorable 



Fig. 108. Peach-leafed willows on shore of stream. After photograph by Williams. 



conditions it may grow to the height of a hundred feet with a 

 trunk seven or eight feet in diameter, but I have seen none in 

 Minnesota to exceed five feet in thickness. The wood is of 

 little value save for pulp and fuel. In the older towns and vil- 

 lages of Minnesota the cottonwood has been freely planted ; 

 but it is not regarded as the most desiral)le of shade trees, for 

 it is always dropping something from its boughs — either stam- 

 inate fiower-clusters, cotton, scales or leaves — and it litters a 

 lawn or street throughout the spring and summer. The stam- 

 inate flowers of the cottonwood are crimson in color, borne in 



