SALICACEAE 



White Poplar 



Populus alba, L. 



HABIT. A large tree 60-80 feet high, with a trunk diameter 

 of 2-4 feet, forming a large, spreading, rounded or irregular 

 crown of large, crooked branches and sparse, stout branchlets. 



LEAVES. Alternate, simple, 2-4 inches long and almost as 

 broad; broadly ovate to suborbicular ; irregularly toothed, sinuate, 

 or sometimes 3-5-lobed ; glabrous, dark green above, white- 

 tomentose to glabrous beneath; petioles long, slender, flattened, 

 tomentose.- 



FLOWERS. April-May, before the leaves; dioecious; the 

 staminate catkins thick, cylindrical, 2-4 inches long; the pistillate 

 catkins slender, 1-2 inches long; calyx o; corolla o; stamens 6-16, 

 with purple anthers; stigmas 2, yellow. 



FRUIT. May-June; ovoid, 2-valved capsules, y&-% inch 

 long, borne in drooping catkins 2-4 inches long; seeds light brown, 

 surrounded by long, white hairs. 



WINTER-BUDS. Ovoid, pointed, not viscid, downy, about 

 y^. inch long. 



BARK. Twigs greenish, covered with a white down, be- 

 coming greenish gray and marked with darker blotches; dark 

 gray and fissured at the base of old trunks. 



WOOD. Light, soft, weak, difficult to split, reddish yellow, 

 with thick, whitish sapwood. 



NOTES. A native of Europe and Asia. Hardy in Mich- 

 igan. Grows rapidly in good soils; thrives in poor soils and 

 exposed situations. Roots deep, producing numerous suckers for 

 a considerable distance from the tree. 



