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70 



TREES GROWING NEAR WATER. 



DOWNY POPLAR. RIVER COTTONWOOD. SWAMP 



COTTONWOOD. (F/a/e XX V.) 



Pdpulus lictcropliylla. 



TIME OF BLOOM 

 April, May. 



Bark: reddish brown; rough; and broken into long, narrow plates. 

 Leaves: simple; alternate, with long, round petioles; rounded ovate, with 

 l)iunt apex and cordate base, the lobes of the base often overla|)ping the leaf- 

 siem ; serrate, with obtuse and incurved teeth. When young the leaves are 

 covered with a white wool which falls as the leaves mature ; the veins and 

 petioles, however, always retain traces of the down. Staminate catkins : very 

 i:nge; dense; drooping,' Pistillate ones : raceme-like; loose. 



It almost seems as though a little innate stubbornness were 



displayed by this tree in the persistent 

 bluntness of its leaf. It also clings 

 with much tenacity to the soft down 

 of its early youth. That it has these 

 decisive characteristics, however, af- 

 fords us a good means of its identi- 

 fication. When its tiny seed is caught 

 on its upward sail in the air, and exam- 

 ined, it is found to be snugly placed 

 within a mass of silvery, white hairs 

 which at their bases are tinged with 

 orange-yellow. This touch of colour 

 and the beauty of the design for its 

 purpose in a thing so small is only 

 another instance of the fineness of Nature's conceptions. 

 In the northern Atlantic states the tree is local and rare. Its 

 wood is closely-grained, but soft and not durable. 



BALSAM POPLAR. TACAMAHAC. 



Pdpiilus bahamifoux. 



Pdpulus heterophylla. 



Bark: grey, tinged with red ; ridged ; bitter. Branches : smooth, with wart- 

 like excrescences. Leaf-buds ; large ; covered with a yellow, resinous gum 



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