30 TREES OF NEW ENGLAND. 



branches, the deep red of the sterile catkins in early spring, 

 and the almost ceaseless flutter of the delicate foliage. 



Bark. Trunk pale green, smooth, dark-blotched below 

 the branches, becoming ash-gray and roughish in old trees; 

 season's shoots dark reddish-brown or green, shining; bitter. 



Winter Buds and Leaves. Buds - J inch long, reddish- 

 brown and lustrous, usually smooth, ovate, acute, often 

 slightly incurved at apex, the upper often appressed. Leaves 

 1-2^ inches long, breadth usually equal to or exceeding 

 the length, yellowish-green and ciliate when young, dark 

 dull green above when mature, lighter beneath, glabrous on 

 both sides, bright yellow in autumn; outline broadly ovate 

 to orbicular, finely serrate or wavy-edged, with incurved, 

 glandular-tipped teeth, apex rather abruptly acute or short- 

 acuminate ; base acute, truncate or slightly heart-shaped, 

 3-nerved ; leafstalk slender, strongly flattened at right angles 

 to the plane of the blade, bending to the slightest breath of 

 air ; stipules lanceolate, silky, soon falling. 



Inflorescence. April to May. Sterile catkins 1-3 inches 

 long, fertile at first about the same length, gradually elongat- 

 ing; bracts cut into several lanceolate or linear divisions, 

 silky-hairy ; stamens about 10 ; anthers red : ovary short- 

 stalked ; stigmas two, 2-lobed, red. 



Fruit. June. Capsules, in elongated catkins, conical : 

 seeds numerous, white-hairy. 



Horticultural Value. Hardy throughout New England in 

 the most exposed situations ; grows almost anywhere, but 

 prefers a moist, rich loam ; grows rapidly ; foliage and spray 

 thin ; generally short-lived ; often used as a screen for slow- 

 growing trees ; type seldom found in nurseries, but one or two 

 horticultural forms are occasionally offered. Propagated from 

 seed or cuttings. 



PLATE XIV. POPULUS TREMULOIDES. 



1. Branch with sterile catkins. 4. Fertile flower. 



2. Sterile flower. 5. Fruiting branch. 



3. Branch with fertile catkins. 6. Branch with mature leaves. 



7. Variant leaves. 



