386 NE'W EXGLAXD TREES IX WIXTEE. 



SILVER POPLAR 



White Poplar, Silver-leaf Poplar, Abele. 



Populus alba L. 



HABIT — A good sized tree 4 0-75 ft. high, with a trunk diameter of 

 2-4 ft.; branches wide-spreading, dt-vt-loping a large, irregular, open, 

 br^iad. r^'und- topped h<:'ad ; spreading abundantly b}" means of root 

 suckers. 



HARK — On young trunks and limbs smooth, characteristically light 

 greenish-gray or whitish, often with dark blotches; base of older 

 trunk at length deeply f urro"U"ed into firm dark ridges. The Sih'er 

 Poplar retains its smi.toth light colured bark longer than cair otlier 

 nienibers of the gen lis. 



TAA'TGS — Slender or sometimes st out, g'reenish-gray, densely' covered 

 T>u t h t h i T' k \^" h i t i s h - 1; o 1 1 o n \" %^' o cd t\Ti i c h can be r e a d i 1 >' rubbed o ff and 

 often remains thrMughiuu the winter only toward the apex; where wool 

 is remo\'ed the surface is shin>'; short spurs numerous "v^'ith conspicuous 

 raised leaf -scars and with terminal buds only. LENTICELS — pale, 

 round, raised dots. PITII^ — -o -pointed, star- shaped. 



liEAF-SCARS — Alternate, more than 2-ranked. semi-circular to in- 

 "wrseh" triaTigular; '"m slu.irt spurs narro\ver. STIPULE-SCARS — distinct. 

 BrXt>LE-SL'ARS — 3. simple or compound. 



urns — Small, ovate to conical, light chestnut brown; neither sticky 

 nor fragrant: shining or more or less covered especially toward base 

 with cottony wool; lateral buds 5-7 mm. long, terminal buds somewhat 

 larger, thicker. BUD-SCALES — margined with very minute hairs; the 

 first scale of lateral buds anterior. This first scale in front has a 

 scale directly above it, the edges of the two beiilg essentially parallel; 

 likeT\'ise the first scale in back generally has a scale directly above it 

 with similarly- parallel edges. The first four scales therefore form two 

 ranks fatdng respecti\'ely front and back. This condition seems constant 

 for tj'pical buds, but does not hold for abnormally small buds. 



(*0>rPARISOXS — The Silver Poplar, acauires a roughened trunk later 

 than the other Poplars, retaining the smooth whitish-green appearance 

 of its bark as a distinctive character. Its generally delicate twigs, 

 greenish-gray when not covered with cottony wool which generally can 

 be found at least at the apex, furnish further characters that distinguish 

 this species from the other poplars. The two ruws of scales with parallel 

 edges in the lateral buds are found to a less striking degree in the 

 larger buds of the Small -toothed Aspen and the Large-tootheu 

 Aspen. 



DISTRIBTTIOX — T\'idely distributed in the Old World. Introduced 

 from England by the early settlers and soon established in the colonial 

 towns on the western shore of Massachusetts Bay. Planted or sponta- 

 neous over a wide area. New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, occasional; 

 southward to A'irginia. 



IX NEW EXGLAXD —Occasional throughout, local, sometimes com- 

 mon. 



IX COXXECTICUT — Occasional, escaped from cultivation to roadsides 

 and waste places. 



AVOOD — Light, soft, weak, reddish-yellow with nearly white sapwood; 

 difficult to split and to ignite; used in Europe for rollers, packing 

 cases and flooring. 



