194 ENGLISH BOTANY. 
These lines also allude to the fact that poplar wood does not endure when exposed to 
moisture or water. The wood of the poplar contains a considerable quantity of 
moisture. Loudon says that “ white poplar weighs, when green, 58 Ibs. 3 oz. per 
cubic foot, and in a dried state, 38 Ibs. 7 oz.” The wood of the abele is very white, 
and it is used where whiteness and lightness are essential, It is also readily stained 
by dyeing materials. It does not readily warp, and is a good material for wooden 
buildings on farms, and for barn-doors. The cooper also employs it for wooden 
dishes and casks. In Sweden the leaves are eaten by cattle. For ornamental 
planting, it needs to be placed where large masses of foliage are picturesque. 
Individual plants, by their great size, injure by comparison the effect of all sur- 
rounding objects. There is one property it possesses which recommends it in treeless 
districts, and that is, the rapid way in which it grows. Withering says, that it 
withstands better than any other tree the prevalence of north-east winds. In the 
fifth volume of the “ Philosophical Transactions” is a paper by the Rev. W. Stone, 
in which he says that poplar bark is an efficacious remedy for ague. It contains 
a principle which is called populine, and which, like the analogous principle in the 
willows called salicine, is probably the cause of its beneficial action in disease. 
The bark also contains tannic acid in sufficient quantities to have been used in 
tanning leather. 
Throughout Great Britain and Ireland noble specimens of this tree are to be found. 
Some at Longleat are said to be 100 feet in height, with trunks from three to four feet 
in diameter, and with forty to sixty feet of clear bole. On the banks of the Thames, 
between Hampton Court ‘and Chertsey, are several specimens upwards of 100 feet 
high. Loudon, in his “ Arboretum,” gives list of trees in this country and on the 
Continent, of great height, and of comparatively young age. 
The white poplar is easily propagated by means of layers or truncheons. The 
latter need not be inserted very deeply, because the roots they send forth always 
originate in those parts of the truncheon nearest the surface. All authorities agree 
that in cultivation this species bears lopping worse than any other. 
Sun-Srecies I.—Populus canescens. Sm. 
Prare MCCC. 
Reich. Ic. Fl. Germ. et Helv. Vol. XI. Tab. DCXV. Fig. 1271, and DCXVI. Fig. 1272. 
“Pp, hybrida, M. B. and P. Bachofenii, Wierzbicki.” Reich. Ic. l.c. p. 29. 
P. alba, var. 8, Bromf. Fl. Vect. p. 460. 
Young branches and buds thinly cottony, and grey. Leaves of the 
suckers deltoid-ovate, subcordate, toothed, but not distinctly angu- 
lated or lobed, at first flocculent pubescent above, afterwards glabrous, 
always cottony and greyish-white beneath; leaves of the flowering 
shoots suborbicular or rhombic-orbicular, sinuate-dentate, white be- 
neath when young, at length glabrous on both sides. Scales of the 
female catkins sharply toothed or sublaciniate at the apex. Stigmas 
9- to 4-partite, purplish crimson. 
In moist woods, meadows, &e. Rather rare, but widely distributed 
over England, and truly wild in the south and east. Not recorded 
from Scotland or Ireland even as a naturalised plant. 
