212 



P0PULUS. 



las, it is seldom seen of large size, but generally as a low 

 round-headed tree. In Canada, according to Michaux, 

 it sometimes readies a height of eighty feet with a trunk 

 of three feet in diameter. 



The wood is of little value, being soft and spongy, and 

 is only fit for packing-boxes, or where a light material is 

 required. It appears to have been one of the earliest trees 

 introduced into England from the American continent, 

 having been cultivated, according to Aiton, in Hampton 

 Court garden in 1692. Into Scotland its introduction was 

 at a much later period, as we are told by Dr. Walker 

 that the first plants were reared in 1768 in a nursery-ground 

 at Leith, from seeds sent from Canada. For a few years 

 it grows very rapidly, and the leaves are large and hand- 

 some, but as it acquires age they diminish in size, and 

 the tree generally acquires a scrubby appearance. The 

 shoots are round, and the buds, which are full and large, 

 are protected by a gum- 

 my and highly- scented 

 matter, which used to be 

 sent from Canada under 

 the name of Baume focot, 

 and was collected from 

 the trees in spring, when 

 the increasing tempera- 

 ture of the season partly 

 melts the resinous var- 

 nish, and it collects in 

 drops on the points of the 

 buds. 



The leaves are of an 

 ovate -lanceolate shape, 

 the edges serrated, with adpressed teeth, and of a pale 



