1806 The Trees of Great Britain and Ireland 



In Scotland it seems quite rare, and whether it is truly native seems doubtful. 

 The finest I have seen is in the park at Gordon Castle, which in 1908 was about 

 100 ft. by 15^ ft. At Smeaton Hepburn I measured in 191 1 a tree 90 ft. by 8 ft. 

 7 in. Mr. Renwick tells me of two trees at Auchentorlie, Dumbartonshire, of 

 which the best measured 94 ft. by 12 ft. 8 in. in 1909 ; and of two trees at The Ross, 

 Lanarkshire, one of which, bearing pistillate flowers, and 87 ft. by 14^ ft., was greatly 

 injured by the storm of 5th November, 191 1 ; the other measured 80 ft. by 12 ft. 

 5 in. in 191 2. At the foot of the former tree, Lathrea squamaria, a parasitic plant, 

 is growing. Mr. Renwick measured, in 1909, a fine tree at Cambusnethan House, 

 Lanarkshire, 102 ft. by 11 ft. 8 in. ; four trees at Dalzell House in the same 

 county, the largest of which was 99 ft. by 17 ft. 7 in.; and a tree at Kilkerran, 

 Ayrshire, 88 ft. by 15 ft. 3 in. 



Selby ' mentions an immense tree growing at Maxwellheugh near Kelso, which 

 had a trunk 16J ft. high and 31 ft. at the base, 21 ft. at two feet and 18 ft. at ten feet, 

 respectively in girth, which was computed to contain over 900 ft. of timber, and, suppos- 

 ing it to be the black Italian poplar, says that it could not be above sixty years old. 2 

 But Sir George Douglas of Springwood Park, Kelso, informs me that this tree, 

 which had to be cut down in 1902 as it overhung the road, and was decaying and 

 dangerous, was, according to reliable oral tradition, nearly as large one hundred and 

 twenty years previously; and in any case must have been a great deal older than Selby 

 supposed. It was 21 ft. in girth at five feet from the ground when felled, and was said 

 to have been 92 ft. high in 1859. Sir George Douglas further tells me that Andrew 

 Brotherstone, a botanist of Kelso, called it the black Italian poplar. Particulars of it 

 were sent to the Edinburgh Botanical Society, but Professor Balfour informs me that 

 no trace can now be found of this in the records of the Society. Mr. G. Leven, 

 forester at Bowmont Forest, informs us that the gardener who cut it down and a 

 local nurseryman state that it was a black Italian poplar. 



In Ireland it seems to be doubtfully native. I have seen none in positions 

 where they seem really wild. Stunted trees which look like P. nigra are common 

 by the roadsides in several counties, but the only fine trees I have seen are as 

 follows : At New Ross, Wexford, by the road about 500 yards south of the town, an 

 old tree with a hollow trunk about 90 ft. by 1 8 ft. This is a female, and produced 

 good seed in 1907, from which Miss Woolward raised seedlings. 8 At Mallow Park, 

 close to the bridge out of the town, a very large tree 4 with a burry trunk, which in 

 1909 measured 90 ft. by 19^ ft. At Muckross, on the green near the hotel, an old 

 tree about 70 ft. by 13 ft., which Mr. Greany, resident agent for the Muckross estate, 

 told me was the only one he knew in the district. (H. J. E.) 



1 British Forest Trees, 202 (1842). 



2 M'Kay and Renwick, in Trans. Nat. Hist. Soc. Glasgow, iv. pp. 251, 261 (1891), found this tree to be 19 ft. 9 in. in 

 girth at six feet three inches above the ground, in 1893. 



3 Cf. Journ. Bot. xlv. 417, t. 487 (1907). 



4 There are two photographs of this tree in the Timber Museum at Kew, which were sent in 107S, with a note that the 

 girth in that year was 17 ft. 2 in. at 4J ft, and 18 ft. I in. at 6 ft. above the ground. 



