1786 The Trees of Great Britain and Ireland 



POPULUS TOMENTOSA 



Populus tomentosa, Carriere, mRev. Hort. x. 340 (1867) ; Wesmael, in De Candolle, Prod. xvi. 2, p. 325 



(1868), and Mem. Soc. Sc. Hainaut, 228, t. 17 (1869) ; Schneider, Laubholzkunde, i. 21 (1904); 



Dode, in Mem. Soc. Hist. Nat. Autun, xviii. 25 (1905); Gombocz, in Math. Term. Kozl. 140 



(1911). 

 Populus alba, Burkill, m/ourn. Linn. Soc. (Pot.) xxvi. 535 (1899) (not Linnaeus). 

 Populus alba, Linnaeus, var. tomentosa, Wesmael, in Pull. Soc. Roy. Pot. Pelg. xxvi. 373 (1887); 



Burkill, m/ourn. Linn. Soc. (Pot.) xxvi. 535 (1899). 

 Populus alba denudata, Maximowicz, in Pull. Soc. Nat. Mosc. i. 49 (1879) (not Hartig). 

 Populus pekinensis, L. Henry, in Rev. Hort. lxxv. 355, fig. 142 (1903). 



A large tree, similar in size and bark to P. alba. Branchlets grey tomentose. Buds 

 ovoid, slightly tomentose, chestnut brown. Leaves (Plate 408, Fig. 2) on the long 

 shoots of old trees, 4 to 6 in. long, 3 to 5 in. broad, triangular-ovate, without lobes 

 or lobules, subcordate or truncate at the broad base, acuminate at the apex ; margin 

 with a few (not exceeding ten on each side) sinuate teeth ; dark shining green above, 

 glabrescent beneath with traces of grey tomentum. Leaves on the long shoots of 

 vigorous young trees, similar in shape, but the margin biserrate with acute glandular 

 teeth, and the lower surface covered with a grey tomentum. Leaves on the short 

 shoots, small, ovate or triangular, cuneate at the base, sinuately toothed, glabrous 

 beneath. Flowers not seen. 



This fine poplar, which attains an enormous size in north China, 1 was discovered 

 by Simon at Siwan, north-west of Peking. His specimen, described by Carriere, is 

 identical with those in the Kew Herbarium, collected near Peking by Sir Rutherford 

 Alcock and by Prof. Sargent, and with another gathered in Shantung by the Rev. 

 A. Williamson, which is preserved in the Edinburgh Herbarium. Gombocz records 

 it also for the mountains of Shensi, and Kiaochow in Shantung. Elwes, in 1912, saw 

 old trees in the grounds of the Summer Palace, Peking, which were about 75 ft. high 

 and 10 ft. in girth. This poplar is called pai-yang by the Chinese. 2 



A young living plant sent from Peking in 1897 by Pere Provost to the Museum 

 at Paris, where it was propagated, has grown vigorously, and was in 191 2 about 35 

 ft. high by 2 ft. 3 in. in girth. We have seen no trees in England of this species. 8 

 Jack 4 introduced in 1905 into the Arnold Arboretum cuttings from Peking, which 

 have produced thriving and hardy young trees. He states, however, that it is more 

 readily propagated by grafting. (A. H.) 



1 According to Schneider, it was collected also by Pere Giraldi, farther south in Shensi ; but the latter's specimen is 

 identified by Diels, Flora von Central China, 274 (1901), with P. tremula, and is possibly P. wutaica, Mayr, Fremdland. 

 Wald- u. Parkbaumc, 494, fig. 215 (1906). 



* Cf. Bretschneider, Bot. Sinic, ii. 359 (1892), who refers to this tree as P. alba. 



3 The trees often sold by French nurserymen as P. tomentosa appear to be P. Bogueana, Dode. Cf. ante, p. 1781. 



* Mitt. Deut. Dend. Ges. 1909, p. 281. 



