Populus 1827 



truncate at the base, and terminating in a slender sharp-pointed non-serrated 

 acuminate apex ; margin with coarse crenate incurved serrations, few and wide 

 apart on the base, and sparsely ciliate except near the insertion of the petiole, 

 which with the midrib and veins is usually of a reddish tint ; glands at the base 

 variable in number. 



Staminate catkins, i^ to 2 in. long ; axis slender, glabrous ; scales obovate, 

 concave, with irregular lobes ending in long filaments; disc shallow, cup-shaped, 

 glabrous, entire in margin ; stamens about fifteen to twenty, with white thread-like 

 filaments and red anthers. 



Messrs. Simon- Louis informed Carri^re in 1865 that this tree, which bears 

 staminate flowers, originated in their nursery at Plantieres in 1832. It appeared 

 in a seed-bed of silver firs, so that it was impossible to know from what poplar 

 the seed had come. It is supposed to be a seedling of P. marilandica (P. cana- 

 densis, Hartig), which had been pollinated by a Lombardy poplar. The shape of 

 the leaves, intermediate between those of the supposed parents, and the narrow 

 pyramidal habit confirm to some degree this explanation of its origin. 



(A. H.) 



So far as I know, no attempt has ever been made by English nurserymen 

 to improve poplars by selection, or to raise them from seed ; but on the Continent, 

 where they seed much more freely, some varieties have been selected by the firm 

 of Simon-Louis freres at Metz. On this rich deep calcareous loam, poplars succeed 

 to perfection ; and the original tree of P. Eugenei is a marvellous instance of the 

 size which a planted tree may attain in a man's lifetime. This was planted in 1834, 

 and measured about 140 ft. high in August 1908. I was unable to see the topmost 

 branch from the measuring point. At the ground it was 39 ft. round, at five feet 

 22^ ft. The main trunk divides at about 30 ft. into several immense limbs, one of 

 which, broken off by the wind, was about 85 ft. long. A younger tree, planted in 

 1870 in rather better soil, measured, in 1908, 128 ft. by 14 ft., with a clean bole 56 ft. 

 long, and contains 500 to 600 cubic feet, which at thirty-eight years old must I think, 

 be a record for any species of planted tree. As M. Jouin told me that the rapidity of 

 growth increases after the first twenty years, this tree is likely to surpass its parent. 



I have planted this variety at Colesborne, where its growth, though not so 

 rapid as in France, is very satisfactory, and have found it to resist late and early 



frosts without injury. 



There are eight examples of this tree at Kew, which were procured from Metz 

 in 1888. The two largest measured ^ in June 191 2, 90 ft. by 5 ft. i in. and 84 ft. by 

 4 ft. 5 in. ; whilst the others ranged from 50 to 60 feet in height and 2 ft. 4 in. 

 to 3 ft 5 in. in girth. All preserve the narrow pyramidal form, and are growing 

 vigorously in sandy soil. The bark is slightly fissured into narrow longitudinal 

 ridges. Another tree at Glasnevin in poor soil, planted in the same year, was about 

 55 ft. high and 4 ft. 5 in. in girth in April 1913. (H- J- E.) 



1 Cf. Kew Bull. I9H, P- 3i°. where the height of the largest tree is given in excess. 



