472 LXXI. SALICINE^l. [Populus. 



2. POPULUS, Tournef. 



Leaves broad, rarely lanceolate or linear ; petioles generally exceeding 

 one-fourth the length of leaf, the leaves of shoots and suckers often differ- 

 ently shaped. Scales of catkins caducous, obovate or rotundate, crenate 

 lobed or cut. Disc flat or cup-shaped, often oblique, membranous or thick 

 and slightly fleshy. Stamens 4-30, inserted on the disc, filaments gener- 

 ally less than twice the length of anthers. Stigmas 2-4, often lobed. Cap- 

 sule 2- 3- or 4-valved, with the valves spreading, each valve bearing a 

 placenta along its median line. 



Capsule 2-valved. 



Buds viscid ; leaves and catkins glabrous . . . . 1. P. nigra. 



Buds hairy ; leaves white-tomentose beneath, catkins hairy 2. P. alba. 

 Capsule generally 3- or 4-valved, rarely 2-valved. 



Capsule pedicellate ; leaves of different shapes, some linear, 



others broad-ovate, cut and lobed . . . . 3. P. euphratica. 



Capsule pedicellate ; leaves cordate, ciliate . . . 4. P. ciliata. 



Capsule subsessile, rugose ; leaves ovate, not ciliate . . 5. P. balsamifera. 



1. P. nigra, Linn. ; Hook. Stud. Fl. 335 ; Reichenb. Ic. Fl. Germ. t. 

 619. Black Poplar. Vern. Sufeda, Pb. plains ; Frast, Kashmir ; Prost, 

 fars7i, makkal, Chenab ; Kramali, biuns, do, Sutlej ; Yarpa, yulatt, kabul, 

 Ladak. (Safedar is the Persian for Poplar.) 



A large glabrous tree with spreading, or (in N.W. India always) erect 

 branches, forming a narrow cylindric crown (P. pyramidalis, Eozier 

 Syn. P. fastigiata, Desf., the Lombardy Poplar). Buds viscid. Leaves 

 glabrous, subcoriaceous, broad-ovate rhomboid or almost triangular, nearly 

 as broad as long, crenate and acuminate ; blade 2-4, petiole 1-2 J in. long; 

 3 basal nerves, midrib penniveined. Male catkins compact, red, glabrous, 

 stamens 15-30. Female catkins glabrous, lax, drooping, disc shallow, in- 

 distinctly dentate, pedicel shorter than cup ; stigmas 2, subsessile, broad, 

 obcordate. Fruiting catkins 4-6 in. long; capsules 2-valved (always?) 

 pedicels shorter than capsule. 



Planted in the N.W. Himalaya, particularly in Kashmir, and in the basins 

 of the Jhelam, Chenab, and Sutlej rivers (Kunawar to Spui and Dabling), be- 

 tween 3000 and 11,500 ft., in Ladak as* high as 12,500 ft. Occasionally planted 

 in the plains, at Lahore, Peshawar, Hushiarpur, and elsewhere. Nearly always 

 the cupressiform or pyramidal variety. The tree is common in Afghanistan 

 (wild, according to Griffith, at Shekkabad, near Kabul, at 7500 ft.) The 

 spreading variety is wild in Europe (naturalised, not indigenous in England), 

 and throughout North and West Asia. C. Koch (Dendrologie, h. 489) states that 

 in Hungary, South Russia, and Asia Minor, the tree has more erect branches, 

 forming an elongated crown, similar to that of the Lombardy Poplar. The latter 

 has long been cultivated in Italy ; it is not, however, mentioned by classical 

 writers, and must have been brought from Asia by the Arabs, or at a later period. 

 From Italy it was introduced into France in 1749 (Mathieu), and into England 

 in 1758 (Loudon). Like the Weeping Willow, it has maintained its peculiar 

 characters unaltered, having always been propagated from cuttings. Most of 

 the Lombardy Poplars in Europe are male ; the female tree of it is known, but 



