POPULUS 213 



P. TRISTIS, Fischer, is a balsam poplar allied to the above, with similar 

 downy shoots and leaf-stalks ; the ovate or ovate-lanceolate leaves are also 

 slightly downy beneath, but narrower in proportion to their length ; 2 to 5 ins. 

 long, i^ to 3 ins. wide. Brandis, alluding to it as P. balsamifera, says it occurs 

 in arid valleys of the inner north-western Himalaya. Probably our climate is 

 too moist and dull for it. Although introduced in 1896, from Spath's nursery 

 at Berlin, it has never succeeded ; and although it makes vigorous growths 

 during the summer, they are frequently cut back in winter, and it has never 

 got beyond a few feet high. Easily increased by cuttings. The leaves of 

 this poplar have a curious habit of hariging on the branches after they 

 are dead. 



P. CANESCENS, Smith. GREY POPLAR. 



A tree 100 ft. high, with a trunk 12 ft. or more in girth ; bark of the young 

 trunk a'nd branches yellowish grey, with horizontal, angular scars, becoming 

 furrowed like an oak or ash with age. Both the terminal part of the young 

 shoots and the under side of the terminal leaves are covered with white or 

 grey felt, but much of this disappears by the fall of the leaf, and it is never 

 abundant on the short twigs or on the lower leaves of the strong shoots, which 

 become usually green and smooth by the end of the season. Leaves roundish 

 on lateral twigs, much larger and ovate on strong leading shoots, the smaller 

 ones i to 2 ins. long, the larger ones 3 to 4 ins. long ; all with large, blunt, 

 rounded teeth, and rounded or slightly iheart-shaped at the base ; stalk 

 flattened, \ to 3 ins. long, carrying about the same amount of wool as that 

 part of the shoot to which it is attached. 



Native of W. Europe, including the south! of Britain, where the tree 

 usually called abele, or white poplar, is really this species. It differs from 

 P. alba in the leaves being grey rather than white beneath, except when 

 quite young, and in those at the base of the shoot becoming smooth or 

 almost smooth by autumn ; the leaf-stalks are generally much longer and 

 more naked, and the catkins are longer. The leaves are never maple-like in 

 form, as in P. alba. This is a very vigorous and handsome poplar which 

 produces suckers freely. It affords a useful timber. Some authorities regard 

 it as a hybrid between P. alba and P. tremula, but this is extremely doubtful, 

 seeing that it is a native of Britain, and P. alba is not. 



Var. AUREO-VARIEGATA. Leaves usually smaller than in the type, and 

 marbled with yellow ; poor, and apt to revert to the green type. 



Var. MACROPHYLLA. Picart's Poplar. An exceptionally vigorous form of 

 P. canescens, the leaves being often 6 ins. long on vigorous shoots. It is 

 usually sold in nurseries as " P. alba macrophylla }} and " P. Picartii." 



Var. PENDULA. Branches slender and gracefully arching or pendulous. 



All the forms are easily increased by leafless cuttings. 



P. EUGENEI, Simon-Louis. 



A tree of the largest size, believed to be a hydrid between the Lombardy 

 poplar and P. marilandica or P. regenerata, but its origin is not definitely 

 known. It is a tree of columnar habit, producing short, comparatively weak, 

 but spreading side branches ; young shoots smooth, somewhat angular. 

 Leaves on ordinary branches 2 or 3 ins. across (considerably larger on vigorous 

 leading shoots), broadly triangular, widely tapered to nearly straight across 

 at the base, slender pointed ; the margins set with rather coarse, incurved, 

 gland-tipped teeth, and furnished more or less with minute hairs. It is a 

 male tree ; catkins 2^ to 3^ ins. long ; anthers red. 



This fine tree originated in the nursery of Messrs Simon-Louis near Metz, 

 about 1832, as a seedling. The original tree still stands where it was planted 



