\ 



DIOECIA— OCTANDRIA. Populus. 245 



the name ; and the proverbial " trembling of an Aspen leaf." 

 Stipulas awl-shaped, hairy like the very youngest leaves, which 

 alone they accompany. Barren catkins lax, near 3 inches long, 

 with deep-cut hairy scales. Stain. 8, occasionally perhaps more. 

 Fertile ones rather shorter, their scales palmate and acutely 

 notched, brown, hairy. Germ, roundish, sheathed by the corolla. 

 Stigmas 4, erect, awl-shaped, triangular, bright crimson ; the 

 outer edge more or less wavy, extending at the base into two 

 small, oblong, reflexed, wavy auricles, each common to two of 

 ^ the stigmas, and, when fresh, of the same rich colour. 

 The wood is white, soft, light, and of a fine grain ; the bark, ac- 

 cording to Linngeus, the favourite food of Eeavers. He thought 

 he detected in it the flavour of the drug called Castor. 



4. P. nigra. Black Poplar. 



Leaves deltoid, pointed, serrated, smooth on both sides. 

 Catkins all lax and cylindrical. Stigmas lour, simple, 

 spreading. 



P. nigra. Linn. Sp. PL ] 464. Willd.v.4. 804. Fl. Br. \08\. Engl. 

 Bot.v.27.t.]9l0. Hook. Scot. 289. RaiiSyn. 446. Ger.Em. 

 1486./. Lob.Ic.v.2.\94.f. Bauh.Hist.v.l.p.2. \55.f. Matth. 

 Falgr.v. I. 124./. Camer. Epil.66.f. Dad. Pempt. 836./. Da- 

 lech. Hist. 86./. Mill. Illustr. <.9U. 



P. n. 1632, Hall. Hist.v. 2. 302. 



P. alba. Trag. Hist. 1080./. 



In watery places, about the banks of rivers. 



Tree. March. 



A tall umbrageous tree, without suckers. Wood tough, and close- 

 grained. Bark thick, blackish, somewhat spongy. Branches 

 smooth 5 rarely hairy when young. Leaves twice the length of 

 their footstalks, deltoid, or unequally quadrangular, deep green, 

 very smooth, pointed, serrated ; the base more entire, as in the 

 other species j the under side palest. Catkins all long, loose 

 and pendulous, measuring 3 or 4 inches. Scales of both kinds 

 palmate, hairy, occasionally smooth. Stam. 8, scarcely more 

 with us, though Linnaeus and Leers describe 16. Germ, ovate, 

 but slender, closely sheathed at the base only with the regular 

 cup-like corolla. Stigin. 4, awl-shaped, simple, moderately 

 spreading, reddish. 



The stigmas prove J. Miller's plate to be so far correct, though re- 

 ferred in Fl. Br. to P. canescens, to which possibly the leaves may 

 belong. 



Several species or varieties, more or less agreeing with our's, but 

 not yet noticed wild in England, have been sent from Bremen 

 by the accurate Prof. Mertens. They merit examination in their 

 parts of fructification, which by the foregoing descriptions appear 



