2760 



POPULUS 



POPULUS 



rather paler below; petiole nearly terete: branchlets light orange- 

 brown: winter-buds acuminate, resinous. 



13. angulata, Ait. HYBRID CAROLINA POPLAR. 

 Fig. 3138. For more than a century considered to be a 

 native tree in the S., although by most botanists not 

 clearly separated from P. deltoides, but Alton's original 

 specimens are interpreted by Henry to represent a 

 hybrid of P. deltoides and P. nigra var. typica; similar 

 forms are known in Europe and are planted in this 

 country: known in both sexes: strong-growing tree 

 with mostly prominently ridged or angled branchlets: 

 Ivs. triangular-ovate, always longer than broad, at the 

 base truncate or more or less cordate, at the apex acute 

 or short-acuminate, at maturity glabrous and firm in 

 texture but slightly pubescent when young, glands 2-6 

 at base of blade or on apex of petiole, the margin except 

 at apex with narrow translucent border, crenate-glandu- 

 lar and ciliate with the teeth close together; petiole 

 flattened: catkins 2-3 in. long, with small cucullate or 

 concave-dentate (not filiform-lobed) scales; stamens 

 30-40. Henry suggested that the floral characters (as 

 seen in Aiton's type) may be a mutation under Euro- 

 pean conditions, inasmuch as catkins with the scales 

 of the species described by Aiton appear not to have 

 been identified from the wild in N. Amer. ? but later he 

 has proposed the hypothesis of the hybrid origin and 

 this seems to go far toward clearing up the difficulties 

 of this perplexing group. The tree is still recognized 

 as cult, in England and France, where it was known as 

 early as 1750. In general, the longer-than-broad Ivs. 

 which are merely acute or short-acuminate rather than 

 long-acuminate, and with deeply cordate or truncate 

 base, distinguish this form. It is a loose open grower, 

 with nothing of the strict narrow shape of the common 

 Carolina poplar of the streets, which is probably P. 

 Eugenei. It is hardy in N. Y. How extensively P. 

 angulata occurs as a planted tree in N. Amer. should 

 be made a subject of inquiry. 



14. Eugenei, Simon-Louis. EUGENE POPLAR. Figs. 

 3139-3141, but known apparently to horticulturists 

 as Carolina poplar: strict-growing strong staminate 

 tree mostly with a markedly excurrent trunk (st. or 

 bole continuing through the top or head) and with 

 many strongly ascending branches, making the top 

 narrow and almost columnar or pyramidal and densely 

 foliaged, but with more or less hanging small spray on 

 the under side or bottom of the head, the tree shedding 

 its branchlets or little twigs freely : Ivs. mostly triangu- 

 lar-ovate (broadest below the middle) and long-acumi- 

 nate-pointed, truncate or slightly cuneate-truncate at 

 base, crenate-serrate with close mostly incurved teeth, 

 petioles flattened: autumn buds long, only slightly 

 viscid, those in the upper axils slender and often 

 curved-pointed. This interesting and valuable rapid- 



growing poplar was found in 1832 as a chance seedling 

 in the Simon-Louis nursery, near Metz, France; it is sup- 

 posed to be a hybrid between Lombardy poplar (male) 

 and P. regenerata (female) and it has the marks of the 

 two. It is now one of the horticultural poplars and is 

 often confounded with the native cottonwood. Henry 

 writes that the original tree is, in his opinion, "the 



3137. Eastern cottonwood, Populus deltoides var. monilifera. 

 The Lafayette tree at Geneva, N. Y., named for General Lafay- 

 ette, and one of the largest trees in the state. 



3138. The longer-than-broad 

 leaves of Populus angulata. 

 (XH) 



most wonderful tree in Europe in point of vigor, as it 

 measured in 1913, when 81 years old, no less than 150 

 ft. in height and 25 ft. in girth at 5 ft. above the 

 ground, and appears to be still growing rapidly. An- 

 other tree, a cutting of the last, planted in 1870, was 

 140 ft. high by 15 ft. in girth." Some of the tall Caro- 

 lina poplars planted in the eastern parts appear to be 

 P. Eugenei, or a very similar hybrid. 



In this account, the poplars of this group in E. N. Amer. Ceast 

 of the Mississippi) are assumed to be of a single species, P. deltoides, 

 and what has been thought to be P. angulata of the southern states 

 is taken as the type of the species, and the true P. angulata is consid- 

 ered to be a hybrid that is more or less planted. Whether other 

 species are involved is to be determined by much further study of 

 the unquestioned native forms. It is not unlikely that there are 

 unrecognized natural hyorids. Tidestrom considers that there are 

 3 species in Maryland, P. virginiana, P. deltoides, and P. angulata 

 (Rhodora, xvi. 208, 1914). The If.-forms in cult, are very confusing 

 if one desires to find separable types without numberless inter- 

 mediates. Taken in a broader sense, P. delioides may be considered 

 to range through the country east of the Rocky Mts., being repre- 

 sented in the S. by the type form, and in the W. by yar. occidentalis 

 (P. Sargentii). In a still wider sense, P. Fremontii and P. Wis- 

 lizenii may be regarded as geographical forms. 



Very recently, A. Henry has distinguished 3 forms of the eastern 

 cottonwood, and has taken up the name P. deltoidea although not 

 certain as to the original application of it. The 3 forms are: (1) P. 

 deltoidea var. monilifera, Henry (P. monilifera, Ait.), the form 

 of the northeastern country: Ivs. deltoid-ovate, about 3 in. long 

 and wide, abruptly contracted into a long non-serrated apex, the 

 base wide and shallowly cordate, bearing 2 glands at the junction 

 with the petiole in front, the margin densely ciliate, both surfaces 

 and petiole glabrous except for a few evanescent hairs on midrib 

 and main nerves. G.C. III. 56:4 (tree in winter). (2) P. deltoidea 

 var. occidentalis, Rydb. (See P. Sargentii, No. 12). (3) P. del- 

 toidea var. misgouriensis, Henry (P. angulata var. missouriensis, 

 Henry). Lvs. similar in shape to those of var. monilifera but 

 larger, being 5 or 6 in. wide and long, both surfaces and the petiole 

 pubescent with some of the pubescence remaining in summer, the 

 basal glands 3 or 4. La. to Mo., also in Ga. 



The botanical names of these native poplars are confused. If it 

 is assumed that there is only one species in this group, then we 

 may apply to it the name P. deltoides, modified from Marshall, 

 1785, or P. canadensis, Moench, 1785; but the descriptions under 

 these names are not sufficient to designate the species if we under- 

 take to define them closely. P. virginiana, Foug., and P. carolin- 

 ensis, Moench. are undeterminable from the descriptions. There is 

 every probability that Marshall in his "Arbustum Americanum" 

 (1785) meant to designate the Carolina poplar by his P. deltoide 



