Populus 1803 



Emetskoie on the Dwina in lat. 63° 30'. It is found on the Volga ^ as far south as 

 Astrachan, and on the Ufa river, where, according to Loffiewsky, it attains 100 ft. high. 

 I also found specimens in the herbarium under the name of P. nigra from Zlataoust 

 on the southern Ural, from Tobolsk and Barnaoul, and from the Yenesei river in lat. 

 66° N., collected by Brenner, with very small leaves. In France I saw a large 

 female tree at Chenonceaux, near Tours, which measured 100 ft. by 10 ft. 10 in, in 

 1908. At Dijon there is in the Botanic Garden a very large tree^ of this species, 

 probably the oldest in Europe. It is said from historical documents to be over five 

 centuries old, and bears an inscription to the effect that in 1866 it was at the ground 

 12 metres, and at two metres high 8 metres in girth, and contained about 40 cubic 

 metres — about 1400 cubic feet of timber. It is quite hollow at the base, the shell 

 being only a foot or so in thickness, and has deeply ridged bark, 4 to 6 in, in 

 thickness. As nearly as I could estimate, its present height is about 125 ft., but 

 having lost several branches has probably been taller. Its girth at 5 ft. is 26 ft. 7 in. 

 The leaves though small are typical in shape, but the trunk is not as burry as in 

 English trees. I could not learn whether it is male or female. M. Mathey, inspector 

 of forests, told me that the black poplar which was formerly common around Dijon 

 is now growing scarce, being superseded, as in England, by P. serotina. 



In Spain and Portugal I only saw small and stunted trees ; and in Italy I have 

 seen none which looked like true P. nigra. In Austria it is common in the valley 

 of the Danube; and in the Prater at Vienna there are many good-sized trees. In 

 Greece, Heldreich records it from Mt, Pelion. In Morocco, Maw and Ball collected 

 specimens in the Atlas at 3000 to 4000 feet. 



In Great Britain it has been occasionally confused by local botanists with 

 P. serotina ; and I can find nothing in the older works, such as those of Evelyn, 

 Miller, and Boutcher, to show that these authors knew the tree from personal 

 observation. Though rare in most parts of England it seems to be a native of the 

 counties on the Welsh border, where it is still fairly common ; and it is probably 

 indigenous in Norfolk, Suffolk, Cambridgeshire, and Essex. It is so very distinct 

 in trunk, foliage, and time of leafing from P. serotina, that it is extraordinary that 

 so little notice has been taken of it either by botanists or foresters, and as the 

 trees given below have in almost every case been visited and identified by ourselves, 

 it is very likely that it will be found in other districts now that attention has been 

 called to it. 



The English tree may be recognised in mature specimens by its trunk being 

 usually covered more or less with large burry excrescences, which are formed by 

 a mass of abortive buds, and which do not seem to be found to the same extent 

 in Continental specimens ; secondly, by its flowering later and leafing earlier than 

 the much commoner black Italian poplar ; and, thirdly, by the shape of the leaves, 

 and also by the green and not reddish tint of the young foliage. As this tree does 

 not seem to have been propagated by nurserymen for many years past, young trees 



1 Loudon, Trees and Shrubs, 824 (1842), states that it abounds on the banks of the Vistula, whence the mottled wood of 

 knotty trunks was brought to Berlin and made into ladies' workboxes. Concerning P. vistulensis, Hort., see Jacquin, Ann. 

 de Flor. ii. 96 (1833), and Rev. Hort. 1865, pp. 305, 346, and 405. 



' Figured in Gard. Chron. xxi. 641, fig. 123 (1884), and in Rev. Hort. iii. 184, fig. 11 (1854). 



