252 TEEES 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.; limbs wide-spreading, developing a series of characteristic 

 curves with their secondary branches which bend up, out and downward, 

 forming 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. 



TAVIGS — 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. 



L.EAF-SCARS — Alternate, more than 2-ranked, semi-circular to in- 

 versely triangular; on short spurs narrower. STIPULE-SCARS — dis- 

 tinct. 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. 



FRITIT — A catkin of small capsules, with hairy seeds ripening in 

 spring. 



COMPARISOIVS — 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-grav when not covered with cottony wool which generally can 

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

 this species from the other Poplars. The two rows of scales with par- 

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

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

 Aspen. Bolles' Poplar [P. alha. var. Bolleana'i is a variety of the Silver 

 Poplar occasionally planted. It is distinguished from the type form by 

 its narrow outline and appressed branches, thus resembling the Lom- 

 bardy Poplar in habit. The bark photograph is taken from a Bolles 

 Poplar. 



DISTRIBUTION — Widely distributed in the Old World. Introduced 

 from England bv 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. 



AVOOD — Light, soft, weak, reddish- vellow with nearly white sapwood; 

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

 :;ases and flooring. 



