392 NEW ENGLAND TREES IN WINTER. 



BALSAM POPLAR 



Balsam, Tacamahac, Balm of Gilead. 

 Populus balsamifera L. 



HABIT A medium sized tree, 30-75 ft. in height with trunk diameter 

 of 1-3 ft.; head -open, comparatively narrow, with spire-like tendency; 

 spreading by means of root suckers. 



BARK On young trunks and branches smooth, light brown tinged 

 with red, on older trunks dark gray tinged with red, broken into broad, 

 firm, rounded ridges. 



TWIGS Stout, round, bright reddish-brown, smooth, shining; older 

 twigs dark orange colored becoming gray tinged with yellowish-green, 

 roughened by thickened leaf-scars; short spurs numerous with terminal 

 but without lateral buds. LENTICELS oblong, light reddish-orange, 

 scattered. PITH 5-pointed, star-shaped. 



L.EAF-SCARS Alternate, more than 2-ranked, large, 3-lobed, inversely 

 triangular, rather narrow for the group. STIPULE-SCARS distinct. 

 BUNDLE-SCARS 3, simple or compound. 



BUDS Large, dark red, resinous, sticky, fragrant especially if 

 crushed, narrowly ovate to conical long-pointed, 15-25 mm. long, terminal 

 larger and relatively wider than lateral buds. BUD-SCALES thick, 

 smooth, oblong, pointed, red or green, saturated with fragrant amber- 

 colored resin which on the outside, where exposed to the air, forms a 

 dark reddish, shining varnish to the bud; the first scale of lateral 

 bud anterior. 



COMPARISONS The Balsam Poplar with its varieties is distinguished 

 from all other forms by the fragrance of its large resinous buds. Twigs 

 and buds resemble those of the Small-toothed Aspen in color but are 

 much larger and are distinctly fragrant especially if crushed. The 

 Balm of Gilead [Populus candicans Ait.] is considered a distinct species by 

 some and by others only a variety. It is extensively planted. It differs 

 from the typical Balsam Poplar in its more spreading branches forming 

 a broader and more open head but the twig characters are closely 

 similar. The photographs were all taken from this latter variety, the 

 descriptions from the type. 



DISTRIBUTION Alluvial soils; river banks, valleys, borders of 

 swamps, woods. Newfoundland and Nova Scotia; west to Manitoba; 

 northward to the coast of Alaska and along the Mackenzie River to 

 the Artie circle; west through northern New York, Michigan, Minnesota, 

 Dakota (Black Hills), Montana, beyond the Rockies to the Pacific 

 coast. 



IN NEW ENGLAND Maine common; New Hampshire Connecticut 

 river valley, generally near the river, becoming more plentiful north- 

 ward; Vermont frequent; Massachusetts and Rhode Island not re- 

 ported. 



IN CONNECTICUT Local. River banks, wet woods and roadsides, 

 usually as an escape from cultivation; Southington, Milford, Wilton, 

 Sherman, New Milford and Kent. Apparently native at Norfolk. 



"WOOD Light, soft and weak; light brown, with thick nearly white 

 sapwood; used for pails, boxes and paper pulp. 



