1788 The Trees of Great Britain .and Ireland 



2. Var. villosa, Wesmael, in De Candolle, Prod. xvi. 2, p. 325 (1868). 



Populus villosa, Lange, Syll. Soc. Ratisb. i. 185 (1824), and ex Reichenbach, Fl. Germ. Excur. 



173 (1830). 

 Populus canescens, Reichenbach, Icon. Fl. Germ. xi. 30 t. 61 7 (1849) (not Smith) ; Hartig, Forstl. 

 Kulturffl. 434(1851). 



Branchlets and leaves at first densely pubescent with long silky hairs, more or 

 less persistent in summer. This variety ' appears to be quite as common in the wild 

 state as the typical glabrous form. 



The origin of the following cultivated form is unknown : 



3. Var. pendula, Loudon, Arb. et Frut. Brit. iii. 1646 (1838). 

 Populus pendula, Burgsdorf, Anl. Anpfl. Holzart. ii. 175 (1787). 



Branchlets pendulous. Usually seen as a small grafted tree. 



The common aspen is widely spread through Europe, northern Africa, Asia 

 Minor, the Caucasus, and Siberia, being replaced by closely allied species in China, 

 Japan, and the Himalayas. It occurs in every European country ; but is absent 

 from the south of Spain, Sicily, and the islands in the western Mediterranean. It 

 is much more common in the north, where it reaches the Arctic Circle both in Europe 

 and Asia ; and either in pure woods or mixed with birch covers extensive tracts in 

 Scandinavia, Russia, and Siberia. Towards the south, it only occurs as a scattered 

 tree in mixed woods ; and ascends in the Pyrenees to 6000 ft., and in the Alps to 

 4000 ft. In England it is not uncommon in coppiced woods; but it is of more 

 frequent occurrence in the Highlands of Scotland, ascending to tree limit. 



The aspen is a short-lived tree, rarely attaining an age of over 100 years. When 

 cut down, it produces coppice shoots of no great vigour, and usually reproduces itself 

 in such cases by abundant suckers, 2 which are given off to a considerable distance by 

 its widely-spreading superficial roots. (A. H.) 



As an ornamental tree the aspen is in northern countries one of the most 

 beautiful, on account of the splendid red and yellow tints which the leaves assume 

 in autumn ; but in England these colours are seldom seen in the same degree, 

 and though the bright pale green of its trembling leaves gives it a certain 

 beauty, it is hardly worth growing in any quantity. It is not particular about soil, 

 and may serve to clothe waste places such as old pit banks. It is one of the latest 

 trees to come into leaf in spring. 



The largest trees I have noticed in England are two at Little Sodbury Manor, 

 in Gloucestershire, which do not much exceed 60 ft. in height. Sir Hugh Beevor 

 tells me that he has seen none larger in the eastern counties. There are four trees 

 forming a handsome group near the river Gade at The Grove, Watford, the largest 

 being 54 feet by 3 ft. 3 in. in 1904. These were photographed 8 by Mr. Henry 

 Irving. 



In Wales the tree does not seem common, but apparently attains a greater size 

 than it usually does in England. In May 191 1 I saw some large trees at an 



1 M. Dode informed me that in the Foret de Bondy this variety attains 35 metres in height.- H. J. E. 



2 The suckers of P. tremula are described by Dubard, in Ann. Sc. Nat. xvii. 160 (1903). 



8 Reproduced by Groom, Trees and their Life Histories, figs. 192, 193 (1907). 



