THE POPLARS 



Genus Populus 



THE poplars are easily distinguished from the willows. In 

 fact, the two genera are so different in appearance, that few 

 people think of them as being closely related. While the willows 

 are very often shrubs, the poplars are always trees. Under some 

 conditions the trees may be small but they show no inclination 

 to become shrubby. The leaves, too, are broad and supported 

 on long slender petioles, and the branches are rather short and 

 brittle. 



The locality in which the poplars flourish is not always the 

 border of a stream but is often a well-drained upland. They 

 are trees of the waste places. Whenever, by fire or otherwise, 

 land becomes denuded of its natural covering, the poplars 

 are the first to take possession. They can be kept out only 

 by grass, and the white birch and bird cherry are their only 

 rivals for first possession. 



While common all across Canada, the poplars are of special 

 interest and value on the prairie. There a tree means a poplar 

 and a bluff a grove of poplars. 



The wood is light and not very durable, and has little com- 

 mercial value except locally for fuel and rough lumber, and to 

 a limited extent for paper pulp. The lack of other timber, 

 however, has made it very valuable on the prairie. The fuel 

 and building material of the pioneer over the greater part of 

 the Canadian plains were furnished by the poplar woods. 



AMERICAN ASPEN. Populus tremuloides. Michaux. 



This is the most widely distributed and best known of all 

 the poplars. It is a slender tree with short, weak, irregularly 



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