The Poplars 



leaves have flattened stems. The round-stemmed ones are 

 poplars, proper. The Russian adage: "There is a tree that 

 trembles without even a breath of wind," might well fit this 

 most apprehensive of all the aspen trees. Its dainty round 

 leaf blades twinkle in the sun, a grove of the trees together pro- 

 ducing at a little distance the appearance as well as the sound of 

 rippling water. It is the gayest of trees. That was a lugubrious 

 wight who imagined it accursed by being the tree on which Judas 

 Iscariot hanged himself, and doomed "ever afterward to shudder 

 and tremble on account of its connection with the tragedy of 

 Calvary." The same legend attaches to the pretty little redbud, 

 the Judas tree. 



"The green wood moved, and the 'light poplar shook 

 Its silver pyramid of leaves." 



We might easily adapt these graceful lines to our quaking asp, 

 but that the word "silver" will not apply accurately. The 

 English poet, Barry Cornwall, was describing the white poplar 

 with white leaf linings. 



There is no mystery in the trembling of these aspen leaves. 

 Examine one. The stem is long and flexible. It is flattened in a 

 plane at right angles with the blade of the leaf. Now, given a 

 leaf that is dangling from its twig, and has four flat surfaces 

 exposed, it is a cautious breeze indeed that is able to get by 

 without disturbing the leafs unstable equilibrium. Given, a 

 treetop of leaves similarly made and hung, and you have a 

 quaking asp. It waves you an invitation to examine, and see 

 if the explanation above is not correct. 



Homer's famous simile based on the leaves of poplar trees is 

 not ungallant as that of Gerarde, who compares them to "women's 

 tongues which seldom cease wagging." 



The most delicate colouring is found in this aspen tree. 

 The pale bark takes on a cool, greenish tinge in earliest spring. 

 The furry catkins flush pink with their silvery grey silk. The 

 opening leaves unroll, soft and white, like flannel — "ju' luk a 

 kitten's ear," each one of them, to quote Uncle Eb. They pass 

 through various tones of rose and olive on the way to their lustrous 

 adult stage. Every day from early March till May it is worth 

 while to go by a copse of trembling aspen and look up to see 

 what new phase of the trees' life history has opened since last we 

 passed that way. 



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