452 OUR WOODLAND TREES. 
another the female flowers. The flowers are all 
borne on coloured pendulous catkins, the catkins 
of male Trees being especially noticeable on ac- 
count of the rich hues of red or brown given to 
them by the colours of the anthers of the stamens. 
The female catkins have a cottony, downy ap- 
pearance, which renders them conspicuous—the 
down being, in fact, the soft envelope of the seeds, 
to which, when the latter are ripened, it serves 
the purposes of wings, to bear them away to 
suitable soil for their development. 
The softness and lightness of Poplar wood 
render it of little value in the arts and manufac- 
tures. It possesses qualities, however, which 
render it useful for particular purposes. Its 
whiteness and smoothness make it a desirable 
wood to employ for the making of floors in houses, 
and its comparative incombustibility, or rather 
the difficulty of making it catch fire, adds to its 
value as a material for flooring. It is generally 
either white or of a pale yellow colour. 
Considering, however, that the foliage of the 
Poplar is of a character which is eminently sug- 
gestive of cheerfulness—owing to the almost per- 
