AMENTIFER^. 193 



White Poplar. 



Frencli, Peujplier hlanc. German, Silher PajJi^el, Weisspappcl. 



The named species of tbe genus populiis, like those of most cultivated plants, are 

 very numerous. There is, however, little doubt that the white poplar is a good 

 species, and that it is now a native of Great Britain, although it is stated to have 

 been originally brought to this country from Flanders. The true Populus alba, as 

 well as the grey poplar (P. canescens), is found throughout the south of Europe, 

 Caucasus, Persia, and Barbary. "We have no early notices of this tree. Turner, -who 

 wrote in 15G8, says that "the white aspe is plentifull in Italy and Gei-many ; " but 

 he does not seem to have met with it in England. But Gerard, who wrote thirty 

 years after Turner, mentions having seen it at Blackwall and at Fenden, and other 

 places. Whether the white poplar be a true native of England or not, there is no 

 doubt that it was early cultivated in Flanders, the soil of which country seems to suit 

 it, and sent over to England. Hartlib, in his " Complete Husbandman," published in 

 1659, mentions, that some years before he wrote, " 10,000 ahcles were sent over from 

 Flanders to England, and transplanted in my English countiy." The Dutch consider 

 it a very valuable tree, and Evelyn says they " look upon a plantation as an ample 

 portion for a daughter." The Avoi'd ahele given to the tree in England, comes from 

 the low Dutch abeel, significant of its hoary and aged character. 



The white poplar was known to the Greeks and Romans. It is the Xevk)) (leul-e) 

 of Theophrastus and Dioscorides. It is often referred to by Virgil in the " Eclogues " 

 and " Georgics," and also by Horace and Pliny. It was sacred to Hercules, and his 

 devotees crowned themselves with its branches and leaves at their sacrifices. A 

 legend says that Hercules destroyed Cacus in a cavern adjoining mount Aventinus, 

 which was covered with white poplars, and in the moment of his triumph he bound his 

 brows with a branch from one of these trees. It is also recorded that when Hercules 

 returned from the infernal regions, he wore a wreath of white poplar on his head. 

 The ancient believers in this fable thus account for the white colour of the under 

 surface of the leaves of the poplar, this having been produced by the perspiration of 

 the hero, whilst the thick smoke of the infernal regions turned the upper part of the 

 leaves black. Homer in his " Iliad " compares the fall of Simoisius, when killed by 

 Ajax, to that of a poplar : — 



" So falls a poplar that in watery ground 

 Raised high its head with stately branches crowned." 



Ovid says that Paris had carved the name of CEnone on a poplar. Virgil, in the 

 " Georgics," gives directions for cultivating the white poplar. Cowper speaks of 



" The poplar that with silver lines his leaf," 



And Barry Cornwall says — 



" The green woods moved, and the light poplar shook 

 Its silver pyramid of leaves." 



In his " Sentimental Journey," Sterne paints Maria as -sitting under a poplar. 



All the species of poplar are remarkable for their white and tough wood, which 

 accounts for the old distich written on a plank of poplar — 



*' Though heart of oak be e'er so stout, 

 Keep me dry, and I'U see him out." 

 VOL. VIII. C C 



