Populus 1789 



elevation of about 800 ft, at Abergwessin in North Breconshire. The Welsh name 

 for it in this district is aethnen ; but at Hafodunos, in North Wales, W. Jones, the 

 head gardener, told me that the local name was tafoden merched, which means 

 "women's tongues." In the Isle of Man a name of the same meaning, chengey-ny- 

 mraane, was used. 



In the Highlands, where it ascends to the upper limit of trees — in Braemar up 

 to at least 1600 ft.' — it seems commoner, and attains larger dimensions. I have 

 never seen any, however, which in size equal those in the north of Norway, the 

 largest I know of being a tree on the shores of Loch Garry, which Captain Ellice of 

 Invergarry found in 19 10 to be about 60 ft. by 7 ft.^ In the birch woods of Strath- 

 glass, Glenaffric, and Guisachan the aspen occurs in clumps which appear to have 

 grown from suckers, but old trees are scarce. The largest I saw was a fallen tree 

 above the falls in Glenaffric, which, when standing, was about 50 ft. high, with a 

 trunk 7 ft. in girth. The belief of the Highlanders, who call the aspen crithean or 

 critheac, that the Cross of Christ was made of this tree still exists both among 

 Catholics and Protestants in this district. I was assured by reliable persons that it 

 is looked on as an accursed tree, and that no Highlander will use the wood for any 

 purpose, even for fuel.* Notwithstanding this belief, I saw on the croft of Peter 

 Macdonald at Balnaith, near the head of Glen Urquhart, a group of well-shaped 

 aspen about 40 ft. high, which, as he told me, he had trained up from suckers, and 

 were about forty years old. 



In Ireland, the aspen is recorded from almost every county, but is by no 

 means a common tree. Mr. R. A. Phillips informs us that it is native on mountain 

 cliffs, rocky lake shores, the banks of rivers, and in old hedgerows in uncultivated 

 bogland districts, and also on the islands off" the west coast. In the mountains of 

 Kerry and Antrim it is a mere bush, but in the lowlands is a small tree, rarely over 

 40 ft. in height. The finest which he has seen grows on the edge of the river Nore 

 near Durrow, and measured 65 ft. by 5 ft. in 1908. 



According to Schiibeler it extends in Scandinavia as far north as Alten (lat. 

 70°), where it attains 60 ft. in height, and in the south ascends to 3500 ft. 

 The tallest aspens that he mentions in Norway grew some miles east of the 

 farm of Viken, in Niderven, and were 90 to 100 ft. high ; whilst at Femrade, 

 in Sogndal (lat. 61°), there was a very old aspen 58 ft. high, with a girth of 16 ft. at 

 four feet from the ground. I saw myself in Junkersdal, in lat. 67°, trees of 80 feet 

 high and 6 to 7 ft. in girth, which were finer than any I know in Great Britain. 



In France, Mouillefert says, that though common in the damper parts of the 

 forest on sandy or gravelly soils, it is rare on dry or calcareous formations, and that 

 owing to the freedom with which it produces suckers it tends to supersede other 

 trees in suitable places. 



1 White, Flora of Perthshire, p. 268, says that it ascends to 2100 ft. in Athole, and 1400 ft. in Rannoch ; and that 

 both the forms — villosa, Lange, and glabra, Syme, — occur in the county. 



2 Loudon mentions trees of much greater size at various places in England and Scotland, but there is little doubt that 

 they were P. canescens. 



' Cf. Loudon, of. cit. 1648, and Cameron, Gaelic Names of Plants, 70 (1883). 



* Cf. Carmichael, Cannina Gadelica, 104 (1900), who states that in Uist the hateful aspen is banned. If it still exists 

 in Uist, it is now an uncommon tree, as I saw none in North or South Uist in 19 10. 



VII T 



