824 



ARBORETUM ET FRUTICETUM BRITANNICUM. 



3? 7. P. Ni^GRA L. The \A?ick-barJced, or common black. Poplar. 



Identification. Lin. Sp. PI., t. 14G4. ; Eng. Fl., 4. p. 245. ; Hook. Fl. Scot., 280. 



Synonijmes. P. alba Trag. Hist. 1080. fig.; P. vimfnea Jiti Ham. Arb. ; P. vistulensis Hort., 



P. polonica Hurt. ; Aigeiros, Greek j Kabaki, Modern Greek ; the old English Poplar, Svffulk; 



the Willow Poplar, Cambridgeshire ; Water Poplar ; the female of P. nigra is called the Cotton 



Tree at Bury St. Edmunds ; Peuplier noir, Peuplier Hard, Osier blanc, Fr. ; schwarze Pappel, 



Ger. 

 Engravings. Eng. Bot., t. 1910. ; the plate of this species in Arb. Brit., 1st edit., vol. vii. ; and our 

 fig. 1498. 



Spec. Char., Sfc. Petiole somewhat compressed. Disk of leaf deltoid, pointed, 

 serrated with glanded teeth, glabrous on both surfaces. Catkins lax, 

 cylindrical. Stigmas 4, simple, spreading. (Smith.) A tree. Europe, 

 from Sweden to Italy, on the banks of rivers, and in moist woods ; and 

 found, also, in the north of Africa. Height 50 ft. to 80 ft. Flowers dark 

 red ; March and April. Seed ripe in May. Decaying leaves rich yellow. 



Va7iett/. 



3e P. 71. 2 v'lndis Lindl. P. viridis Lodd. Cat. ed. 1836. Leaves of a 

 brighter green than in the species. 



The leaves are slightly notched on their edges, of a pale light green ; and 

 the petioles are yellowish. The leaves are protruded about the middle of 

 May, much later than those of P. fostigiata, P. alba, or P. (a.) canescens ; 

 and, when they are first expanded, their colour appears a mixture of red and 

 yellow. The catkins are shorter than those of P. tremula or P. alba ; they 

 appear before the leaves, in March and April ; those of the males are of a dark 

 red, and, being produced in abundance, have a striking effect. The capsules 

 of the female catkins are round ; and the seeds which they enclose are en- 

 veloped in a beautiful white cotton. The tree is of rapid growth, especially 

 in good soil, in moist situations, or on the banks of rivers. In the climate of 

 London, it attains the height of 30 or 40 ft. in ten years ; and, Vv'hen planted 

 for timber, arrives at perfection in from forty to fifty years, beginning to decay 

 when about sixty or eighty years old. It is readily known from all other species 

 from the numerous large nodosities on its trunk. It bears lopping ; and, when 

 treated as a poilard, it produces abun- 

 dance of shoots. In moist soil, when 

 cut down to the ground annually, it 

 throws up numerous shoots, like wil- 

 lows. The wood is yellow, soft, and, 

 being more fibrous than that of any 

 other species of poplar, it splits more 

 readily than the wood of either P. alba 

 or P. tremula. It weighs, in a green 

 state, 60 lb. 9oz. per cubic foot; half- 

 dry, 421b. 13 oz. ; and dry, 29 lb. : thus 

 losing more than one half its weight by 

 drying ; and it loses, by shrinking, more 

 than a sixth of its bulk. It is apphed 

 to all the different purposes of that of P. 

 alba, but its most general use on the 

 Continent is for packing-cases, more especially for the transport of bottled 

 wines. In Berlin, the wood produced by knotty trunks, which is curiously 

 mottled, is much used by cabinetmakers ibr making ladies' workboxes, which 

 are celebrated both in Germany and France. This wood is brought from the 

 banks of the Vistula, where the tree abounds, and hence the names of 

 P. vistulensis and P. polonica. 



i 8. P. (? N.) canade'nsis Michx. The Canadian Poplar. 



Identification. Michx. Arb., 3. p. 298. ; N. Amer. Syl., 2. p. 227. 



Synonijmes. P. laevigata Willd. Sp. PI. 4. p. 803., Pursh Fl. Jyner. Sept. t. 2. p. C19., S.preng. Si/st. J'eg. 

 2. p. 244., but not of Hort. Ketv. ; P. moniUfera Hort. Par., Nouv. Cours, &c. ; Cottoii-wooo, 

 Michx. ; Peuplier de Canada, Fr. in Nouv. Cours d'Agri. edit. 1822, tom. xi. p. 407. 



The Sexes. Willdenow has seen the male living; Bosc says that only the female is in France. 



Engravings. Mich. Arb., 3. t. 11. ; North Amer. Syl., 2. t. 95. ; and ourfig. 1499. 



149S. P. nigra. 



