CHAP. CIII. SALICA^CEJK. PO'PULUS. 1671 



Synonyms. P. angulbsa Michx. Fl. Bar. Amer., 2. p. 243. ; P. heterouh^lla Du Rot Harbk., 2. 

 p 150., Ma-rich m-isacnst., 80., Wangenh. Amer., 85.; P. macrophflla Lodd. Cat., edit. 1836; 

 P. balsamifera MUl. Diet., No. 5.; Mississippi Cotton Tree, Amer. 



The Sexes. A plant at Ampton Hall, Suffolk, and one in the London Horticultural Society's arbo- 

 retum, are both of the male sex. Michaux the elder has briefly described the flowers of both sexes, 

 in his Fl. Bor. Amer. ; but, as Michaux the son states, in his North Amer. Sylva, that his father 

 had confounded P. angulata and P. canadensis together in his Flora, we cannot be sure that the 

 part descriptive of the flowers under P. angul&ta relates to this. It is given below, in the supposition 

 that it may. 



Engravings. Michx. Arb., 3. t. 12. ; North Amer. Sylva, 2. t. 94.; Du Ham. Arb., 2. t. 39. f. 9. ; 

 Catesb. Carol., 1. t. 39. ; our fig. 1533. ; and the plates of this tree in our last Volume. 



Spec. Char., $c. Bud not resinous, green. Shoot angled, with wings. 

 Disk of leaf ovate, deltoid, acuminate, toothed with blunt teeth that have 

 the point incurved, glabrous : upon the more vigorous shoots, the disk is 

 heart-shaped, and very large. (Pursk, and Michx. jun.} The elder Michaux's 

 description of the flowers under P. angulata is as follows : " Male flowers 

 polyandrous ; female flowers rather distantly placed upon the rachis, glabrous ; 

 the ovary subglobose." This description is liable to the exception above 

 noted. In Martyn's Miller, the male catkins are said to be like those of P. 

 nigra, and the anthers purple. P. angulata, in North America, is, according 

 to Pursh, a tree about 80ft. high; its branches are very brittle, and its leaves 

 are very large. It is wild in morasses on the banks of rivers between Virginia 

 and Florida, and on the Mississippi. Introduced into England in 1738, and 

 flowering in March. 



Varieties. 



If P. a. 2 nova Audibert. The plant of this variety in the London Hor- 

 ticultural Society's Garden being only 2 ft. high, we are unable to 

 state in what respect it differs from the species. 



P. a. 3 Medusa Booth. A plant in Messrs. Loddiges's collection, 

 received under this name, in 1836, from Messrs. Booth of Hamburg, 

 is not yet quite 1 ft. in height. 



Description, $c. The shoots of this species, when young, are extremely 

 succulent; and, as they continue growing late in the summer, they are 

 frequently killed down several inches by the autumnal frosts. After the 

 tree has attained the 

 height of 20 ft. or 



^L i . 



30 ft., which, in the 

 climate of London, it 

 does in five or six 

 years, this is no longer 

 the case ; because the 

 shoots produced are 

 shorter and less sue- 1533 



culent, and, of course, better ripened. According to Michaux, the leaves, 

 when they first unfold, are smooth and brilliant, 7 in. to 8 in. long on young 

 plants, and as much in breadth ; while on trees 30 ft. or 40 ft. high they 

 are only one fourth the size. The petiole, compressed in the upper part, 

 renders the leaves easily agitated by the wind. " The annual shoots on 

 young trees are very thick, distinctly striated, and of a green colour spotted 

 with white; on branches of the second, third, and even of the seventh or 

 eighth, years, the traces of the furrows are still observable: they are indicated 

 by prominent red lines in the bark, terminating at the insertion of the young 

 shoots, which ultimately disappear with the growth of the branches. This 

 character belongs also to the cotton-wood (P. canadensis); but, besides the 

 difference of their general appearance, the two species are distinguished by 

 their buds : those of the Carolina poplar (P. angulata) are short, of a deep 

 green, and destitute of the resinous substance which covers those of the 

 cotton-wood (P. canadensis), and of which the vestiges remain till late in the 

 season. The wood of P. angulata is white, soft, and considered of little use 

 in North America. As an ornamental tree, it forms a very stately object; 

 but, from the brittleness of the branches, they are very liable to be torn off 

 by high winds. In the climate of Paris, the points of the shoots of the ter- 



