POFULUS] SALIC 'INEJE. 369 



ORDER LXXII. SALICI NEE. 



Trees or shrubs. Leaves alternate, simple, deciduous, stipulate. Flowers 

 dioacious, in catkins which usually precede the leaves. Perianth 0. Disk 

 annular urceolate or glandular. MALE. Stamens 2 or more, inserted 

 under the disk, filaments free or connate ; anthers basifixed, introrse. 

 FEMALE. Ovary sessile or pedicelled, 1 -celled ; styles 2, short, stigmas 

 2 entire or 2-4-lobed ; ovules many on 2 parietal 'placentas, ascending, 

 anatropous, raphe dorsal. Capsule I-celled,. loculicidal ; valves 2, rolling; 

 back, many-seeded. Seeds minute, testa membranous, furiicle short, with 

 a pencil of silky hairs that conceals the seed, albumen ; embryo straight, 

 cotyledons plano-convex, radicle inferior. 'DiSTRiB. Arctic and N; temp, 

 zones, rare in the tropics and S. ; absent from Australia and the Pacific ; 

 genera 2 ; species about 180. AFFINITIES. Very obscure. PROPERTIES. 

 Bitter, astringent, febrifuge, aromatic. 



Leaves broad. Catkins drooping, scales cut.. ......1. Populiis. 



Leaves usually narrow. Catkins usually erect, scales entire. 2. Salix. 



1. PO'PULUS, Totirnef. POPLAR. 



Catkins drooping ; scales crenate lobed or cut. Disk oblique, cupular 

 Stamens 4-30, filaments free. Stigmas slender, 2-4-cleft. DISTRIB. N. 

 temp, regions; species 18. ETYM. The Latin name. 



SECTION 1. Leu'ce. Young shoots pubescent. Fruiting catkins dense 

 scales ciliate. Stamens 4-12. Stigmas 2-4-lobed. 



1. P. al'ba, L. ; buds not viscid, leaves of shoots more or less lobed, 



of branches broadly ovate cordate sinuate white and cottony beneath. 



Moist woods, river-banks, &c., from Elgin and the Clyde southd. ; Ireland 

 Channel Islands ; fl. March- April. A large tree, 60-100 ft. ; bark grey, 

 smooth; wood white; branches spreading, buds cottony; suckers many, 

 with large deltoid-ovate lobed and toothed leaves 2-4 in. diam. Leaves on 

 the branches 1-3 in., glabrous in age ; petiole very long, slender, compressed 

 Catkins 2-4 in., cylindric; female shorter. Stamens 6-10; anthers purple. 

 Capsules J in., narrow ovoid. DISTRIB. From Gothland southd., N. 

 Africa, N. and W. Asia, N.W. Himalaya. "Wood light, does not burn 

 easily. 



P. AL'BA proper ; leaves of the suckers lobed, of the branches white and 

 cottony beneath, stigmas usually 2-4 linear. White Poplar, Abele. 

 A doubtful native, cultivated as far N. as Forfar, but does not flower in 

 Scotland ? 



Sub-sp. P. CANES'CENS, Sm. ; leaves of the suckers angled and toothed, of the 

 branches hoary beneath or glabrous, stigmas 2-4 rarely 2 each 4-cleft 

 Grey Poplar. A supposed hybrid with tremula, indigenous in S.E. Eng- 

 land. Wood said to be superior to that of P. alba proper. I have never 

 seen stigmas like those figured in Engl. Bot. (? copied from Eeichenbach). 



2. P. trem'ula, L. ; buds not viscid, leaves of shoots cordate acute 

 entire, of branches suborbicular-ovate sinuate-serrate with incurved teeth 

 glabrous or silky beneath. Aspen. 



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