WILLOW FAMILY 



The foliage effect of a tree is often compounded of the dif- 

 ferent colors shown by the two sides of its leaves, of which 

 the White Poplar gives a marked example ; or by new leaves 

 coming out and showing themselves upon the dark back- 

 ground of older leaves as is the case with the locusts and 

 the conifers. This mingling of green and white makes the 

 White Poplar a most effective ornamental tree, but it is 

 never safe to allow it a free hand, for the root is creeping 

 and produces suckers indefinitely, so that in a brief period 

 a parent tree will be surrounded by a numerous and well- 

 grown family that will soon convert the place into a 

 thicket. 



The White Poplar is native of both Europe and Asia and 

 was brought to this country very early. In favorable situa- 

 tions it rises to the height of eighty or one hundred feet, with 

 a sturdy trunk and spreading head. The bark of the lower 

 part of the trunk is dark and furrowed and that of the upper 

 part and larger branches is greenish gray with dark markings 

 and blotches. The young shoots are covered with a white 

 down and continue to come out far into midsummer, thus in- 

 creasing the white appearance of the tree. The leaves are 

 either lobed or coarsely and sparingly toothed, very dark 

 green and smooth above, covered with a thick snowy down 

 beneath, and tremulous like all their kind. With the elm and 

 the early maples it responds to the first warm days of spring 

 and when in full bloom, may be said fairly to drip catkins, so 

 covered is every branch with the pendulous aments, three 

 inches long and as large as one's finger. 



According to ancient mythology the White Poplar was 

 consecrated to Hercules because he destroyed Cacus in a 

 cavern adjoining Mt. Aventinus, which was covered with 

 these trees ; and in the moment of his triumph he bound his 

 brows with a branch of White Poplar as a token of his vic- 

 tory. Persons offering sacrifices to Hercules were always 

 crowned with branches of this tree ; and all who had glori- 

 ously conquered their enemies in battle wore garlands of it, 

 in imitation of Hercules. Homer in the " Iliad " compares 



430 



