474 LXXI. SALICINEiE. [Populus. 



uniform in size and uniformly distributed, annual rings fairly distinct. Weight 

 25-35 lb. (Nordlinger). In Europe the wood is much in request for packing-cases, 

 the bottom planks of carts and waggons, for turning, and toys. In India it is 

 generally raised from cuttings, often of large size. The growth is rapid ; the 

 tree (in Europe) attains a diameter of 2-3 ft. in 50 years (according to Mathieu, 

 a diam. of 2 metres in 40 years). Like most Poplars, it sends up abundant root- 

 suckers. The Indian tree does not often flower, specimens in fruit, collected in 

 W. Tibet by T. Thomson, are in Herb. Kew. Dr Stewart states that he never 

 saw a tree in flower or fruit. 



P. canescens, Sm., the Grey Poplar of Europe, leaves hoary, and afterwards 

 glabrous beneath, is by Hooker classed as a sab-species under P. alba. The 

 wood takes a good polish. 



P. tremula, Linn. ; Hook. Stud. Fl. 335 ; Eeichenb. Ic. Fl. Germ. t. 618 

 the Aspen Tremble, French; Aspe, Zitter pappel, German; belongs to the same 

 group as P. alba, with 2-valved capsule and pubescent buds. The leaves are 

 pubescent when young, almost orbicular, on long slender pedicels, dentate with 

 large obtuse teeth, the leaves of shoots and suckers are different, larger and 

 short-petiolate, Europe, North and West Asia, Africa. A moderate-sized, some- 

 times a large tree, spreads widely by means of root-suckers, and is often very 

 inconvenient in coppice-woods and thickets of hardwood trees. The wood is 

 white, and of late has been much sought after for the manufacture of paper. 

 Burckhardt, in his excellent work, " Saen u. Pflanzen," 451, states that in the 

 north-eastern Harz forests the price of this wood has increased sevenfold 

 within a short time on that account. 



3. P. euphratica, Olivier. Tab. LXIII. DC. Prodr. xvi. ii. 326. 

 Syn. P. diversifolia, Schrenk. Vern. Balian, blidn, jangli benti, safedar, 

 Pb.j Bahn, Sindh; Pathi, Brahui; Hodung, Ladak. 



A large glabrous tree, extremities sometimes hoary ; buds slightly pu- 

 bescent, not viscid. Leaves coriaceous, most variable in shape, those of 

 seedlings, young trees and luxuriant shoots, pollard- and coppice-shoots, 

 linear, short-petiolate, 3-6 in. long, those of older trees and on branches 

 with short internodes, generally broad-ovate rhomboid or cordate, blade 

 2-3 in. long and equally broad, often broader than long ; petiole 1-2 in. 

 long. The broader leaves have generally the upper half dentate, cut or 

 lobed, they have also 3-5 basal nerves, and the midrib penniveined ; the 

 narrow leaves are entire, without prominent lateral nerves. All kinds of 

 intermediate forms are frequently seen on the same tree, and on the same 

 branch the lower leaves are often broad, and the upper narrow, lanceolate. 

 (In Tibet the leaves vary much less than in the plains of the Panjab.) 

 Catkins lax, nodding. Male fl. : scales oblanceolate ; disc on long slender 

 pedicels, flat, 8-cleft ; stamens 8-1 2, anthers oblong, quadrangular, longer 

 than filaments. Female fl. pedicellate, disc membranous, caducous, 

 tubular with 8-12 linear segments; stigmas 3, more or less irregularly 

 crescent -shaped, narrowed into short styles. Capsule lanceolate, open- 

 ing into 3, rarely 2 valves, J-J in. long ; pedicel slender, shorter than 

 capsule. 



Common in the forest belt of Sindh along the Indus, particularly in upper 

 and middle Sindh, where its seedlings spring up in abundance, some time after 



