POPULUS TREMULOIDES, MICHX. 29 



trees ; flowers one to each bract, without calyx or corolla ; 

 stamens one to many ; style* short or none ; stigmas 2, entire 

 or 2-4-lobed ; fruit a 2-4-celled capsule. 



POPULUS. 



Inflorescence usually appearing before the leaves ; flowers 

 with lacerate bracts, disk cup-shaped and oblique-edged, at 

 least in sterile flowers ; stamens usually many, filaments 

 distinct ; stigmas mostly divided, elongated or spreading. 



SALIX. 



Inflorescence appearing with or before the leaves ; flowers 

 with entire bracts and one or two small glands ; disks want- 

 ing ; stamens few. 



Populus tremuloides, Michx. 

 POPLAR. ASPEN. 



Habitat and Range. In all soils and situations except in 

 deep swamps, though more usual in dry uplands ; sometimes 

 springing up in great abundance in clearings or upon burnt 

 lands. 



Newfoundland, Labrador, and Nova Scotia to the Hudson bay 

 region and Alaska. 



New England, common, reaching in the White mountain 

 region an altitude of 3000 feet. 



South to New Jersey, along the mountains in Pennsylvania and 

 Kentucky, ascending 3000 feet in the Adirondacks ; west to the 

 slopes of the Rocky mountains, along which it extends to Mexico 

 and Lower California. 



Habit. A graceful tree, ordinarily 35-40 feet and not 

 uncommonly 50-60 feet high ; trunk 8-15 inches in diameter, 

 tapering, surmounted by a very open, irregular head of small, 

 spreading branches ; spray sparse, consisting of short, stout, 

 leafy rounded shoots set at a wide angle ; distinguished by 

 the slenderness of its habit, the light color of trunk and 



