CHAP. cm. 



S'ALlCA^CEiE. PO'PULUS. 



1671 



Sjimnymes. P. augulbsa Michx. Fl. Bor. Amer., 2. p. 243. ; P. heteroph^lla Z)« iloJ HV'''hJ- 

 p ISO., Ma-nch iVeissenst., 80., Wangenh. Amer., 85.; P. macrophJ'Ua Lodd. Cat., edit. lV.6b; 

 P. balsamifera M/«. i>/c/., No. .5.: Mississippi Cotton Tree, y4»««-. ^, . , ,^ ... 



The Sexes A plant at Ampton Hall, Suftblk, and one in the London Horticultural Society s arbo- 



part descriptive of "the flowers under P. angulJlta relates to this. It is given below, in the supposition 



eLTJI^]"^^' Michx. Arb., 3. t. 12. ; North Amer. Sylva, 2. t. 94.; Du Ham Arb., 2. t. 39. f. 9. ; 

 Catesb. Carol., 1. t. 39. ; our fig. 1533. ; and the plates of this tree in our last Volume. 



Spec. Char., <$•€. Bud not resinous, green. Shoot angled, with wings. 



Disk of leaf ovate, deltoid, acuminate, toothed with blunt teeth that have 



the point incurved, glabrous : u[)on the more vigorous shoots, the disk is 



heart-shaped, and very large. (Purs/i, and Michx. jun.) The elder Michaux's 



description of the flowers under P. angulata is as follows : — " Male flowers 



polyandrous ; female flowers rather distantly placed upon the rachis, glabrous ; 



the ovary subglobose." This description is liable to the exception above 



noted. In Murtyn's ATdler, the male catkins are said to be like those of P. 



nigra, and the anthers purple. P. angulata, in North America, is, according 



to Pursh, a tree about 80ft. high; its branches are very brittle, and its leaves 



are very large. It is wild in morasses on the banks of rivers between Virginia 



and Florida, and on the Mississippi. Introduced into England in 1738, and 



flowering in March. 



Varieties, 



i P. fl. 2 nova Audibert. — The plant of this variety in the London Hor- 

 ticultural Society's Garden being only 2 ft. high, we are unable to 

 state in what respect it differs from the species. 

 tV. a. 6 Medusas Booth. — A plant in Messrs. Loddiges's collection, 

 received under this name, in 1836, from Messrs. Booth of Hamburg, 

 is not yet quite 1 ft. in height. 

 Description, Sfc. The shoots of this species, when young, are extremely 



succulent; and, as they continue growing late in the summer, they are 



frequently killed down several inches by the autumnal frosts. After the 



tree has attained the 



height of 20 ft. or 



30 ft., which, in the 



climate of London, it 



does in five or six 



years, this is no longer 



the case ; because the 



shoots produced are 



shorter and less sue- ^^ 



culent, and, of course, better ripened. According to Michaux, the leaves, 



when they first unfold, are smooth and brilliant, 7 in. to 8 in. long on young 



plants, and as much in breadth ; while on trees 30 ft. or 40 ft. high they 



are only one fourth the size. The petiole, compressed in tlie upper part, 



renders the leaves easily agitated by the wind. " The annual shoots on 

 young trees are very thick, distinctly striated, and of a green colour spotted 

 with white ; on branches of the second, third, and even of the seventh or 

 eighth, years, the traces of the furrows are still observable : they are indicated 

 by prominent red lines in the bark, terminating at the insertion of the young 

 shoots, which ultimately disappear with the growth of the branches. This 

 character belongs also to the cotton-wood {P. canadensis); but, besides the 

 difference of their general appearance, the two species are distinguished by 

 their buds : those of the Carolina poplar {P. angulata) are short, of a deep 

 green, and destitute of the resinous substance which covers those of the 

 cotton-wood {P. canadensis), and of which the vestiges remain till late in the 

 season. The wood of P. angulata is white, soft, and considered of little use 

 in North America. As an ornamental tree, it forms a very stately object'; 

 but, from tiie brittleness of the branches, they are very liable to be torn off 

 by high winds. In the climate of Paris, the points of the shoots of the ter- 



