Carolina Poplar 



177 



to have originated in some way from that species. Specimens 50 meters high 

 have been known in France. The branches are all characteristically upright. 



The bark of old trees is gray to 

 brown and deeply furrowed. The 

 young twigs are ohve-green, becoming 

 gray, the buds pointed and 6 to 8 mm. 

 long. The leaves are triangular- 

 ovate to rhombic, toothed nearly all 

 around, smooth on both sides, and 4 

 to 10 cm. long when mature, rather 

 thin, bright green above, paler beneath, 

 pointed or long-pointed, the base 

 broadly wedge-shaped to truncate; the 

 slender leaf-stalks are as long as the 

 blades or somewhat shorter, and flat- 

 tened sideways. The catkins resemble 

 those of the Black poplar, but the 

 stanunate ones are more slender. The 



, 1 . . 11 1 Fig. 134. — Lombardy Poplar, 



capsules are very short-stalked. 



The tree is of rapid growth but of short duration, individuals over fifty years 



old being usually very ragged. Its wood is described as similar to that of the 



Black poplar but of inferior quality. 



14. CAROLINA POPLAR — Populus deltoides Marshall 



This Cottonwood of eastern North America, 

 also called Necklace poplar, on account of its 

 long necklace-hke ripe fruiting catkins, in- 

 habits moist soil, especially the banks of 

 streams and lakes, from Quebec westward to 

 Manitoba, south to Florida and Tennessee; it 

 is not, however, common near the Atlantic 

 coast. The tree attains a maximum height 

 of about 45 meters, with a trunk diameter of 

 2 meters or more; its hmbs are large, thick, 

 and spreading, the diameter of old individu- 

 als being often as great as their height. 



The bark is gray or gray-green, that of 

 young trees thin and smooth, that of old ones 

 thick and fissured, with rounded ridges. The 

 young twigs are rather stout, smooth, yellow- 

 ish green and shining, becoming gray. The 

 pointed ovoid buds are somewhat resinous, the terminal ones about i cm. long. 



Fig. 135. — Carolina Poplar. 



