THE LOMBARDY POPLAR. 



Po'puhis pyramida'lis Roz. 



Most of our broad-leaved deciduous trees have rounded 

 contours, whilst some Conifers, at least when young, 

 present a conical, or rather pyramidal, outline. The 

 Lombardy Poplar stands almost alone in the remark- 

 ably erect, or " fastigiate," habit of growth of its 

 branches. True, the boughs of the Mount Atlas Cedar 

 have an upward slope, whilst those of the Florence- 

 Court or Irish variety of the Yew have a still fuller 

 right to the description of "fastigiate"; but neither 

 of these needle-leaved trees rises above its fellows 

 in such a narrow, pointed column as does the Lom- 

 bard} 7 Poplar. 



The " tall Poplars," however, alluded to in the 

 lyrics of Horace as the supports round which the 

 vines were twined, were not of the variety now known 

 as the Lombardy Poplar. This last form, which is 

 known in France as " Peuplier dTtalie," though 

 there are several other Italian species, does not seem 

 to have been known in Italy even in the time of 

 Pliny, eighty years after the death of Horace. 



As we have before seen, there is but little to dis- 

 tinguish the Lombardy Poplar from the old Black 

 Poplar (Populus ni'gra L.) save its general outline 

 and the erect tendency of its branches which produces 

 that outline. Poplars, however, are none of them 

 very long-lived trees ; and if a quick-growing American 



49 73 



