132 THE WHITE POPLAR, 



The leaves of both may be distinguished from the other 

 British species by being deeply jagged, the grey less so 

 than the white. The leaves of both are white, with down 

 beneath, particularly the latter, which also are larger than 

 those of the other. The fertile catkins of the Abele are 

 oval, and each flower is furnished with four pistils ; those 

 of the Grey Poplar are long and cylindrical, and the 

 flowers contain eight pistils each. In all other respects 

 the trees are so similar, that for the remainder of the 

 chapter I shall include them under the same name. 



LEAF OF WHITE POPLAR. 



The White Poplar was famous in the- mythology of the 

 ancients, being consecrated to Hercules, who, in comme- 

 moration of one of his victories gained in a place where 

 this tree was growing in abundance, used to wear a chaplet 

 of its leaves, a custom which was adopted by persons who 

 sacrificed to him. Pliny gravely states that the White 

 Poplar, as well as several other trees which he mentions, 

 always turned its leaves to an opposite quarter of the 

 heavens immediately that the summer solstice was past. 

 Though modern science has not confirmed this observation, 

 the ti-ee may frequently be noticed turning up the white 

 surface of its leaves during the huffling winds which we 



