CHAP. cm. 



fALICA^CE^, PO'PULUS. 



1651 



poplar in the Horticultural Society's Garden, which, in 1834, were 23 ft. 

 high, after being ten years planted. The leaves are remarkable for their fine 

 rich yellowish red tinge, when they first appear in spring ; and for their 

 large size, deep indentations, and fine glaucous green during summer : on 

 which account, this poplar deserves a place in every collection as an or- 

 namental tree. We consider it as a variety of P. tremula, from which it 

 is not more distinct than P. alba acerifolia is from P. alba, or Tflia 

 europae^a grandifolia is from T. e. parvifolia. Plants, in the London 

 nurseries, are 2^. 6d. each ; at BoUwyller, 3 francs ; and at New York, 

 35 cents. 

 Variety. 



t P. (^.) g. 2 pendnla Michx. Flor. Bor. Amer. is said to have pendu- 

 lous branches. There is a tree bearing this name in the Horticultural 

 Society's Garden, but its branches are not pendulous. 



"t 6. P. gr.eVa Ait. The Grecian, or Athenian, Poplar. 



N. Du 



Identification. Ait. Hort. Kew., ed. 1., 3. p. 407., eA 2., 5. p. 396. ; Willd. Sp. PI., 4. p. : 



Ham., 2. p. 185. 

 The Sexes. The female is in the London Horticultural Society's arboretum ; and was, some years ago, 



in gardens at Bury St. Edmunds, and in the plantations of O. R. Oakes, Esq., at Newton, near 



that town. JVilld., in his Sp. PI., also mentions the male as the only one that he had seen living. 



It is doubtful whether the male is in Britain 

 Engravings. N. Du Ham., 2. t. 54. ; out fig. 1512. ; and the plate of this tree in our last Volume. 



Spec. Char., ^c. Branch round, glabrous. Petiole compressed. Disk of 

 leaf roundish-ovate, having a shallow sinus at the base, and terminating in 

 an acute point, serrated with equal teeth that are adpressed, glabrous, except 

 being slightly ciliated on the edge. {Willd. Sp. PL) 

 Wild in the islands of the Archipelago. (Ibid.) 

 Cultivated in Britain in 1779, by Hugh Duke of 

 Northumberland. It flowers in March and April. 

 (Hort. Kew.) The species is not registered in 

 Smith's Prodromus of Sibthor2)^s Flora Grceca ; so 

 that, though named P. gras^ca, and the Athenian 

 poplar, it does not appear to be wild in Greece ; 

 nor, notwithstanding the statement of Willdenow, 

 in the Archipelago. According to the Nouv. Du 

 Hamel, it is stated by some to be a native of North 

 America, and more particularly of a township there 

 named Athens. The circumstance of its having 

 been introduced by Hugh Duke of Northumber- 

 land is favourable to this opinion ; that nobleman 

 having been a great importer of American trees. 

 It is a handsome, vigorous-growing tree, very 

 interesting when in flower, from its numerous 

 darkish-coloured catkins, which have the plume-like character of those 

 ^of P. tremula, P. trepida, and P. grandidentata. Tiie leaves, in their 

 form, colour, and general aspect, resemble those of P. trepida, but are 

 longer. The tissue of the bark of young trees is of a coarsish texture ; 

 which, by rendering its component parts obvious, makes it an eligi- 

 ble subject for study to young physiologists. The pith of the young 

 branches, of about 1 in. in diameter, is very small in quantity, and green. 

 The capsules are upon pedicels, and these and the rachis are hairy. It is 

 propagated by iayers, or by grafting on some other species of poplar ; 

 more particularly on P. alba canescens. Bosc states that he has seen grafts 

 produce shoots 8 ft. or 10 ft. long the first season. In the Gardener's 

 Magazine, vol. iii. p. 410., is an account of a number of trees bearing the 

 name of Populus grge'ca, which were planted at Woodfield, in Monmouth- 

 shire, which, after being planted ten years, averaged shoots of 3 ft. yearly. 

 The writer had been induced to plant these trees by a paper on the subject, 

 in the Memoirs of the lAlerary Society of Manchester, vol. v. Though differ- 



3 P 3 



