LOMBARDY POPLAR. 



6 53 



cramped for room by the lateral branches which form outside it, 

 and so dies. Thus the upward growth of the branches is carried 

 on bv a succession or shoots developed from 

 buds on the outer side, and the resultant 

 bough is made up or a series of curves 

 following one above the other, with here 

 and there an incurving twig springing from 

 it. The main trunk itself is often ousted 

 by a couple of lateral boughs which con- 

 tinue their upward growth in parallel or 

 but slightly diverging lines. These usurpers, 

 or the shoots they support, will reach a 

 height of no less than 150 ieet. The lower 

 trunk is often deeply fluted with vertical 

 or spiral indentations, and the bark which 

 covers it is divided by diagonal incisions. 

 The numerous weak branchlets often conceal 

 the outline of the branches, and by their 

 want of expansion necessitate the crowding 

 together of the leaves. Each main bough, 

 with its dependent branches and foliage, 

 forms a column set at an acute angle to the 

 central trunk, and between these . parallel 

 columns strips of sky are visible. A well-grown tree takes the form 

 of a tapering column with a pointed base. 



THE FLOWER . 



Both the leaf and the male catkin of this tree resemble those of 



the Black Poplar, though they are of smaller size. No tree bearing 



female catkins li 1 nmc under the writer's observation. 



