258 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 feet.; head open, comparatively narrow, with spire-like tendency; 

 spreading- by means of root suckers. 



BARK — -On young trunks and branches smooth, light brown tingecl 

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

 firm, rounded ridges. 



TWIGS — Stout to slender, round, bright reddish-brown, smooth, shin- 

 ing; older twigs dark orange colored becoming gray tinged with yel- 

 lowish-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. 



LEAF-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, term- 

 inal 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. 



FRUIT — A catkin of small capsules with hairy seeds ripening in 

 spring. 



COMPARISOXS — 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 [Popuhis 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. 



DISTRIBUTIOIV — 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 Arctic circle; w^est 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; 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; Massachusetts and Rhode Island — not reported. 



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

 sapwood; used for pails, boxes and paper pulp. 



