386 NEW ENGLAND TREES IN WINTER. 



SILVER POPLAR 



White Poplar, Silver-leaf Poplar, Abele. 

 Populus alba L. 



HABIT A good sized tree 40-75 ft. high, with a trunk diameter of 

 2-4 ft.; branches wide-spreading, developing a large, irregular, open, 

 broad, round-topped head; spreading abundantly by means of root 

 suckers. 



BARK On young trunks and limbs smooth, characteristically light 

 greenish-gray or whitish, often with dark blotches; base of older 

 trunk at length deeply furrowed into firm dark ridges. The Silver 

 Poplar retains its smooth light colored bark longer than our other 

 members of the genus. 



TWIGS Slender or sometimes stout, greenish-gray, densely covered 

 with thick whitish-cottony wool which can be readily rubbed off and 

 often remains throughout the winter only toward the apex; where wool 

 is removed the surface is shiny; short spurs numerous with conspicuous 

 raised leaf-scars and with terminal buds only. LENTICELS pale, 

 round, raised dots. PITH 5-pointed, star-shaped. 



LEAF-SCARS Alternate, more than 2-ranked, semi-circular to in- 

 versely triangular; on short spurs narrower. STIPULE-SCARS distinct. 

 BUNDLE-SCARS 3, simple or compound. 



BUDS Small, ovate to conical, light chestnut brown; neither sticky 

 nor fragrant; shining or more or less covered especially toward base 

 with cottony wool; lateral buds 5-7 mm. long, terminal buds somewhat 

 larger, thicker. BUD-SCALES margined with very minute hairs; the 

 first scale of lateral buds anterior. This first scale in front has a 

 scale directly above it, the edges of the two being essentially parallel; 

 likewise the first scale in back generally has a scale directly above, it 

 with similarly parallel edges. The first four scales therefore form two 

 ranks facing respectively front and back. This condition seems constant 

 for typical buds, but does not hold for abnormally small buds. 



COMPARISONS The Silver Poplar, acquires a roughened trunk later 

 than the other Poplars, retaining the smooth whitish-green appearance 

 of its bark as a distinctive character. Its generally delicate twigs, 

 greenish-gray when not covered with cottony wool which generally can 

 be found at least at the apex, furnish further characters that distinguish 

 this species from the other poplars. The two rows of scales with parallel 

 edges in. the lateral buds are found to a less striking degree in the 

 larger buds of the Small-toothed Aspen and the Large-tootheu 

 Aspen. 



DISTRIBUTION Widely distributed in the Old World. Introduced 

 from England by the early settlers and soon established in the colonial 

 towns on the western shore of Massachusetts Bay. Planted or sponta- 

 neous over a wide area. New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, occasional; 

 southward to Virginia. 



IN NEW ENGLAND Occasional throughout, local, sometimes com- 

 mon. 



IN CONNECTICUT Occasional, escaped from cultivation to roadsides 

 and waste places. 



WOOD Light, soft, weak, reddish-yellow with nearly white sapwood; 

 difficult to split and to ignite; used in Europe for rollers, packing 

 cases and flooring. 



