128 FAMILIAR TREES 



the close of the eighteenth century, noticed this form 

 growing wild in various parts of his county, recom- 

 mended its wood for flooring. Poplar w r ood in general 

 has the advantage over resinous woods of not readily 

 igniting. The leaves of the Grey Poplar are thin, 

 rounder than those of the Abele and less deeply 

 toothed, with bluntly triangular lobes and apex and 

 a general outline approaching the orbicular. Their 

 under surfaces are grey rather than white, and they 

 become smooth, or nearly so, later. The veins are 

 pinnately arranged, but the two lower secondary ones 

 are nearly as large and prominent as the midrib, thus 

 producing a slight development of that " pseudo- 

 palmate " condition which is more marked in the 

 more lobed leaves of the Abele. The buds and shoots 

 are cottony, much as are those of the Abele. The 

 most distinctive feature of the form is the stigma, 

 which is not merely two-lobed or four-lobed, as in 

 other Poplars, but, as Mr. Crowe discovered, eight- 

 lobed and purple. 



