﻿Trees of New York State 139 



SALICACEAE 



Populus deltoides Marsh. [Populus monilifera Alt. Populus canadenais, 

 var. Eugenie Schelle.] 



Carolina Poplar Cottonwood, Necklace Poplar 



Habit — A tree usually 50-70 feet in height with a trunk diameter of 2-3 

 feet, under optimum conditions sometimes 100 or more feet tall. Crown 

 at first pyramidal, with age becoming rounded and open and nearly as 

 broad as long. Limbs sparse, stout, ascending or the lower horizontal. 

 Branchlets drooping. Bole tapering and continuous well into the high 

 crown. Propagates naturally by suckers. 



Leaves — Alternate, borne on long, slender, smooth, flattened petioles, broadly 

 deltoid-ovate, acute at the apex, truncate or cmieate at the base, crenate- 

 serrate, 3-5 inches long and broad, at maturity thick and firm in texture, 

 light green, smooth and lustrous above, paler and smooth below. Stipules 

 ligulate to linear-lanceolate, Mj~1 inch long, fugacious. 



Flowers — Appearing in April and May before the leaves from separate 

 flower-buds, dioecious, borne in the axils of pale brown, hairy or glabrous, 

 obovate, laciniate scales, the whole forming pendulous anients. Staminate 

 aments cylindrical, stout, densely flowered, 3-4 inches long. Pistillate 

 aments linear-cylindrical, sparsely flowered, 2%-3i4 inches long. Stamens 

 40-60, -wdth short, slender filaments and dark red anthers, inserted on a 

 broad, shallow, oblicjue disk. Pistil solitary, enclosed at the base by the 

 cup-shaped, shallow disk, consisting of a subglobose ovary and 3-4 nearly 

 sessile, spreading, lobed stigmas. 



Fruit — An oblong-ovoid, acute, pedicellate, dark green capsule, thin-walled 

 and glabrous at maturity, %,-% of an inch long. The capsules are borne 

 loosely in naked, pendant, thin-stemmed aments 8-12 inches long, and 

 open in May or early June by 3-4 valves to set free the minute, pale 

 bro"^^^l, white- or rusty-comose seeds. 



Winter characters — Twigs stout, lenticellate, terete or angled below the 

 buds, smooth, sometwhat lustrous, pale yelloAv tinged with green. Flower- 

 and leaf-buds distinct. Leaf-buds ovate, acute, somewhat divergent, 

 smooth, lustrous, chestnut-brown, covered by 6-7 scales which are water- 

 proofed on their inner surface with a yellow, fragrant resin, ^-% of an 

 inch long. Flower-buds similar until they begin to swell in early spring. 

 Mature bark ashy gray, thick, deeply fissured Avith broad, rounded ridges. 

 Younger bark pale yellowish green, thin and smooth. 



Habitat — A moisture-loving, rapidly growing species jiref erring rich, damp 

 soils along stream courses, borders of lakes and on wet meadows and 

 bottom-lands. A forjn of this species, the Carolina Poplar, is widely 

 planted as a shade tree along streets, in dooryards, etc. 



Range — Southern Quebec west through southern Canada to the Eocky Moun- 

 tains, south to Florida and New Mexico. Zones A, B, and C. 



Uses — Wood light, soft, weak, fine-grained, difticult to season, dark brown, 

 with thick, nearly white sapwood. Used for pulp, packing cases, light 

 fuel. A staminate form of this species, the Carolina Poplar, is extensively 

 used as a street and park tree, especially where quick effects as in real 

 estate developments are desired. The tree is not to be recommended 

 because it is short-lived and sheds many branches during the autumnal 

 rains. The roots cause trouble by penetrating and clogging drains and 

 sewers. 



