SALICACEAE 

 Lombard? Poplar 



Populus nigra italica, DuRoi. [Populus fastigiata, Desf.] 

 [Populus dilatata, Ait.] 



HABIT. A tree 75-100 feet high, with a short, ridged and 

 buttressed trunk 4-6 feet in diameter and a narrow, spire-like 

 crown of erect branches. 



LEAVES. 'Alternate, simple, 2-4 inches long, and usually 

 somewhat broader than long; broad-deltoid, abruptly acuminate 

 at the apex ; finely but bluntly crenate-serrate ; thick and firm ; 

 dark green and shining above, lighter and more or less lustrous 

 beneath; petioles slender, laterally compressed, 1-2 inches long. 



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

 staminate in sessile, dark red, cylindrical catkins about 3 inches 

 long; the pistillate not present in the United ^States; calyx o; 

 corolla o; stamens about 8, with white filaments and purple 

 anthers. 



FRUIT. Not formed in the United States in the absence of 

 pistillate flowers. 



WINTER-BUDS. Terminal bud conical, slightly angled, 

 taper-pointed, glutinous, about Y% inch long; lateral buds smaller, 

 appressed. 



BARK. Twigs glabrous, shining yellow, becoming gray; 

 thick an,d gray-brown on old trunks, deeply and irregularly fur- 

 rowed. 



WOOD. Light, soft, easily worked, not liable to splinter, 

 weak, not durable, light red-brown, with thick, nearly white sap- 

 wood. 



NOTES. Thought to be a native of Afghanistan. Very 

 rapid in growth. Short-lived. Spreads by means of suckers and 

 fallen 'branches. Useful for ornamental purposes. Because of 

 crowding the limbs die early, which remain and cause the tree to 

 look unsightly. 



59 



