WILLOW FAMILY 



ally, enlarged at the base. Stipules vary in shape and remain until 



the leaf is half grown. 



Flowers. — March, April, before the leaves. Pistillate aments are 



two and one-half to four inches long, one-third of an inch thick ; 

 scales are broadly ovate, light brown, scarious, often 

 irregularly three-lobed or parted at the apex which 

 is fringed with short thread-like lobes. Stamens 

 twenty to thirty, with short filaments and large light 

 red anthers, inserted on an oblique, slightly concave, 

 short-stalked disk. Ovary ovate, slightly two-lobed, 

 sessile in a deep cup-shaped disk. Stigmas two, ses- 

 sile, dilated. 



Fruit. — Fruiting aments four to six inches long ; 

 capsules open May or June, are ovate-oblong, often 

 curved, two-valved, light brown. Seeds oblong-ovate, 

 light brown surrounded by slender hairs which sur- 

 round the aments with masses of snow-white cotton 

 which is wafted with the seed great distances from the 

 tree. 



A Staminate 

 and a Pistillate 

 Flower of Bal- 

 sam, Popiilus 

 halsamifcra ; 

 enlarged. 



0U 



The greatest part of the drift timber that we observed on 

 the shores of the Arctic Sea was Balsam Poplar. Its Cree 

 name is Matheh-metoos, which means ugly poplar. 



— Sir John Franklin's Report of Last Journey. 



The Balsam or Tacmahac is the largest tree 

 of northwestern America. In the valley of the 

 Mackenzie and upper Yukon it attains magnifi- 

 cent proportions, reaching the height of one 

 hundred feet with a diameter of six or seven, 

 and forms dense forests thousands of square 

 miles in extent. It possesses all the poplar 

 characteristics ; of drooping catkins, whitish 

 trunk, fluttering shinmiering leaves, and cot- 

 tony seeds. 



Fopuliis balsamifcra candicans is the tree in 

 northeastern United States and Canada known 

 as the Balm of Gilead. It is more and more fre- 

 quently cultivated as a shade-tree, especially in 

 cities where bituminous coal is habitually used. 

 Three varieties are distinguished in cultivation. 



It differs from the specific form in its more spreading 

 branches, in its broader heart-shaped leaves which are more 



424 



Balsam, Populus 

 balsamifera. 

 Fruiting Am- 

 ents 4' to (/ 

 long. 



