Populus 1817 



terminating in long filaments; stamens about twenty to twenty-five, with long 

 slender white filaments and deep red anthers ; disc oblique, shallow, concave, glabrous, 

 crenate or slightly lobed in margin. 



1. Van erecta, Henry. 



Populus monilifera erecta, Selys-Longchamps, in Bull. Soc. Bot. Belg. iii. 11, 13 (1864). 



A fastigiate form ^ of P. serotina, with which it agrees in sex, branchlets, buds, 

 and leaves, the latter being late in unfolding.^ (A. H.) 



More remarkable for its habit than its size is this poplar, which was described 

 by the late Baron de Selys-Longchamps, a distinguished Belgian naturalist. I 

 visited the Chateau de Longchamps near Waremme, about twenty miles west of 

 Liege in 1908, on purpose to see these trees, and am indebted to the baron for a 

 photograph (Plate 385), which shows their peculiar habit very well. The original 

 tree was planted in a meadow close to the village of Willines in 1818, and was 

 procured by chance from a neighbouring nursery. It is somewhat past its prime, 

 and measures about 120 ft. by 8 ft. 8 in., having a somewhat less fastigiate habit 

 than Lombardy poplars growing in the same field. It is a male tree with reddish 

 petioles. The trees shown in the photograph were grown from cuttings of it, which 

 were planted in 1862. The tree which has been pruned measures 120 ft. by 7 ft. 4 in. ; 

 the unpruned one 120 ft. by 8 ft. 2 in. The Lombardy poplar planted next to it at 

 the same time is only 100 ft. by 6 ft. 4 in. The earlier leafing of the Lombardy 

 poplars is well brought out in the photograph. On the other side of the same 

 meadow there is a line of poplars, which though they seemed identical in foliage 

 with P. serotina, had whitish bark ; and I was informed by M. Edmond de Selys, 

 who has now succeeded his father, that these were liable to be injured by a canker in 

 the branches, from which the dark-barked form planted in the same field was free. 



I may add that as an ornamental tree, the fastigiate form seems to be at least 

 as good as the Lombardy poplar, whilst its timber is more valuable, its growth more 

 rapid, and its hardiness superior. Cuttings from the fastigiate variety were kindly 

 sent me by the baron, and are growing vigorously at Colesborne. Henry saw in 

 191 2 a specimen about 25 ft. high in the Calmpthout Nursery near Antwerp. 



(H. J. E.) 



2. Var. aurea^ Henry. 



Populus canadensis aurea van Geerti, Andrd, in Illust. Hort. xxiii. 26, t. 232 (1876); Dippel, 

 Laubholzkunde, ii. 200(1892). 



A sport, with yellow foliage, probably referable to P. serotina. This form 

 was produced spontaneously on a single branch of a large tree in 1871 ; and was 

 propagated by Ch. Van Geert in his nursery, which is now the Society Horticole de 

 Calmpthout. We have seen no flowers or large trees of this variety ; and the yellow 

 colour of the foliage at Kew does not last throughout the season. (A. H.) 



» This tree has been erroneously identified by Koch and other German dendrologists with the peuplier riginir( of 

 Carri^re, which is a pistillate tree, of quite independent origin. See p. 1824. 



2 Specimens obtained by Elwes from the trees planted in 1862. Baron Selys-Longchamps, in Belg. Horticole, 1864, 

 p. 257, states that there were two original trees of the fastigiate variety, which were planted in 1818 with 60 ordinary 

 peupli'ers suisses. They resembled the latter in all respects, except in habit ; but proved to be less vigorous, as they had not 

 attained, 46 years after planting, as great a girth. 



3 Simon-Louis, Catalogue, 1869, p. 73, mentions a variety with variegated leaves, which we have not seen. 



