CLASS XXII, ORDER vi J > POPULUS. 1287 
Medusa, represented as a three-headed monster, and as vomiting 
flames. Cacus robbed Hercules of some of his cows, and consequently 
was attacked by Hercules for his depredation, who squeezed and 
strangled him in his arms, though vomiting fire and smoke; and in 
the moment of his triumph Hercules was crowned with a branch of 
white Poplar, and when that hero accomplished his twelfth labour, 
and returned from the infernal regions, he was crowned with the 
wreath of white Poplar. From these and similar cireumstances we 
learn that those persons who sacrificed to the different gods wore 
garlands upon their heads, composed of different leaves of trees, 
which were accounted sacred to the god to whom they paid their 
devotions. Thus those who sacrificed to Hercules wore a crown of 
the Poplar leaves, and those to Apollo a crown of Laurel, &c., which 
is thus related by Virgil, Pastoral viii. 84. 
“ The Poplar is by great Alcides worn; 
,lhe brows of Phoebus his own bays adorn ; 
The branching Vine the jolly Bacchus loves; 
The Cyprian queen delights in Myrtle groves ; 
With Hazel Phyllis crowns her flowing hair ; 
And, while she loves that common wreath to wear, 
Nor bays, nor,Myrtle boughs, with Hazel shall compare.” 
The wood of the Poplar is light, soft, and white, and is used by 
cabinet and toy makers, and turners use it for making wooden 
vessels, where lightness and durability are required: by the ancients 
it was esteemed for making bucklers, on account of its softness and 
lightness, for which purpose it is well adapted, since it does not split 
from blows, or crack from being pierced, as the harder woods. It 
is an excellent material for making room floors, and it is not easy to 
ignite, and when burning does not blaze as the resinous woods, such 
as the Deals or Firs ‘do: it is equally valuable for other purposes 
of building. 
As an ornamental tree it is not esteemed in pleasure grounds of 
limited extent, on account of its large size and disproportion to 
most other trees; but for the formation of groves and planting on 
road sides, especially in a damp soil, it is one of the best, and in 
many parts of the Continentit is planted for miles in extent. Poplars 
are trees which soon decay, if from any accident their branches are 
broken and rain is admitted. The leaves are the food of numerous 
insects, and very liable to be infested with several species of small 
fungi, as well as the trunk of the tree with the larger ones. 
3. P. tre'mula, Linn. (Fig. 1549) Aspen or trembling leaved Poplar. 
Leaves nearly orbicular, broadly toothed, smooth on both sides ; 
footstalks compressed ; scales deeply cut and hairy; stigmas four. 
English Botany, t. 1909.—English Flora, vol. iv. p. 244.—Hooker, 
British Flora, ed. 4. vol. i. p. 8376.—Lindley, Synopsis, p. 238, 
