338 A MANUAL OF FORESTRY. 



Young branches greenish grey or nearly white ; bark 

 longitudinally furrowed. 



Leaves not unlike those of P. alba, but smaller, 

 rounder, less deeply toothed, thinner, and not tomentose 

 below (though they may be very pale). The leaves of 

 suckers are usually much larger and more irregularly 

 toothed. Petioles slender and compressed. 



The catkins are more densely silky, and grey, spotted 

 with red. 



Fruits, wood, seeds, &c., not easily distinguished 

 from those of other species. 



21. BLACK POPLAR. 

 Populus nigra (L.). Salicineae. 



Large tree, with more or less pyramidal crown. (The 

 Lombardy Poplar is a fastigiate variety.) 



Young branches smooth and grey. Bark of old trees 

 Oak-like, but of a paler hue. 



Buds large, angular, pointed and covered with fra- 

 grant resin ; the outer scales chestnut-brown and short, 

 the inner projecting to a point. Leaf -scars with three 

 vascular bundles, and three decurrent angles. Many of 

 the lower buds die off. 



Leaves large, triangular, ovate acuminate, coarsely 

 crenate-serrate, tough, glabrous, green on both sides, 

 with compressed petioles. 



Male catkins red and sessile, female stalked and green- 

 yellow. Structure very similar to the last. 



Fruit somewhat turgid. 



