1640 AUBORETUM AND FRUTICETUM. PART III. 



perty that it will not, like any resinous wood, readily take fire." (Smith in 

 Eng. Fl.) 



Varieties referable to one or other of the preceding kinds, most of them to 

 P. alba. 



i P. a. 2 hybrida Bieb. Fl.Taur. Cauc., 2. p. 423., and Suppl., p. 633.; P. 

 alba Bieb., 1. c. ; ? P. intermedia Mertens ; P. a. crassiiblia Mertens ; 

 and P. grisea Lodd. Cat., 1836; appears to be intermediate between 

 P. alba and P. (a.) canescens. It is plentiful in the neighbourhood 

 of streams in Tauria and Caucasus ; whence it appears to have been 

 introduced into Britain in 1816. There is a female plant of this 

 kind in the Horticultural Society's Garden, and young plants in 

 Loddiges's arboretum. 



P. a. 3 acerifdlia', P. acerifolia Lodd. Cat., ed. 1836 ; P. (/uercifolia Hort. ; 

 P. palmata Hort.; is a very distinct variety of P. alba, with the 

 leaves broad, and deeply lobed, like those of some kinds of ^'cer. 



i P. a. 4 arembergica, P. arembergica Lodd. Cat., 1836, seems identical 

 with P. (a.) acerifolia; but the plants in Loddiges's collection, which 

 were only received in 1835, are so small, that it is difficult to 

 decide with certainty respecting them. Booth (Gard. Mag., xi. 

 p. 207.) describes it as growing much more rapidly than the old variety. 



* P. a. 5 belgica, P. belgica Lodd. Cat., ed. 1836, is also a kind removed 

 from the Continent in 1835 ; but the plants in Messrs. Loddiges's 

 collection are too small to admit of our stating anything more re- 

 specting them, than that they are evidently a variety of P. alba ; 

 probably identical with P. a. acerifolia. 



3f P. a. 6 candicans, P. candicans Lodd. Cat., ed. 1836, is a strong-growing 

 variety of P. alba ; probably also identical with P. acerifolia. This 

 is the P. tomentosa of the Hawick Nursery, and the hoary poplar of 

 the Edinburgh nurseries, where it is propagated by layers, which 

 make shoots 6 ft. or 8 ft. long the first season. 



P. a. *? nivea, P. nivea Lodd. Cat., differs very little, if at all, from the 

 preceding variety. 



5f P. a. 8 cegyptiaca Hort., P. a. pallida Hort., the Egyptian white poplar, 

 is a much weaker-growing plant than any of the preceding varieties > 

 though we have received specimens of this kind from the Hawick 

 Nursery, and seen a tree bearing this name in the Horticultural 

 Society's Garden, we can say very little about it. Messrs. Archibald 

 Dickson and Son, of Hawick, state that it is unfit for planting for 

 forest purposes. 



Other Varieties. The late Professor Mertens of Bremen (as M. Fis- 

 cher of Gottingen informed us in 1835) planted a number of different 

 sorts of poplar on the ramparts of Bremen; and, in 1816, specimens 

 of these were sent to Sir J. E. Smith, which are now in the herbarium 

 of the Linnaean Society. Of these specimens, the most remarkable is 



$ P. a. 9 pendula, P. a. var. gracilis ramis pendentibus Mertens. The specimens of this va- 

 riety are of both sexes ; and we may presume, from the pendent shoots, that it would 

 be a very desirable kind of poplar to have introduced, if it is not already in this country. 

 There is a pendent-branched tree of P. alba in Lincoln's Inn New Square, which might 

 probably retain its drooping character, if propagated by cuttings or grafting. 



Description, $c. The white poplar, and its different varieties, form trees 

 from 80ft. to 100ft. high, and upwards, generally with a clear trunk to a con- 

 siderable height, and a spreading head, usually, in full-grown trees, but thinly 

 clothed with foliage. The roots creep under the surface to a considerable 

 distance from the tree, and send up suckers in abundance. The leaves of all 

 the varieties are white underneath ; those of P. (a.) canescens least so ; and 

 those of P. a. nivea, and P. a. candicans, so in the greatest degree. The 

 leaves of the largest-growing varieties of the abele tree, are deeply lobed and 

 indented ; very dark above, and very white and downy beneath, with foot- 

 stalks about 1 in. in length. The young shoots have a purplish tinge, and 

 they are covered with a white down ; but the bark of the trunk and of the 



