Populus 1835 



p. candicans appears to be unquestionably ^ a native of North America, though 



Sargent states that he has seen no wild specimens, and that it " does not appear to 



be indigenous in New England or eastern Canada, where the pistillate plant ^ has 



been used as a shade tree from very early times, as it has been in the Middle States 



and in Europe." L. H. Barclay,' however, states that there was a grove of this 



species, " with many large trees, at South Haven, Michigan, when the first pioneers 



visited the place, and these appeared to be coeval with the surrounding forest, with 



which they were interspersed for some distance back from the lake shore." Gates 



states * that on the west coast of Michigan, north of Waukegan, the sand dunes in 



some places are surmounted by narrow groves of P. candicans, consisting of trees of 



moderate size, which are associated with Prunus pumila. Seedlings of this poplar 



are rarely found on the dunes themselves, but are common on the adjoining heaths. 



A specimen in the Kew Herbarium, collected by Fernald along the St. John River in 



Aristook County, Maine, has a note attached stating that it is common north of lat. 



47° along river banks and in low-lying woods. No further information of a positive 



kind is obtainable concerning its distribution ; but Dame and Brooks ^ state that trees 



of both sexes are found by collectors in New Hampshire and Vermont ; while in 



central and southern New England the staminate tree is rarely, if ever seen. These 



authors conclude that the evidence points to the habitat of the wild tree being a narrow 



belt extending through northern New Hampshire, Vermont, the southern section of 



Ontario, and Michigan. Macoun says that it is the prevalent balsam poplar in 



Ontario, and that it is apparently wild in the neighbourhood of Picton, Nova Scotia. 



(A. H.) 



The Ontario poplar was introduced into England in 1772, and has been widely 

 planted ever since, owing its popularity, no doubt, to the fact that it is more easily 

 propagated by cuttings than the true balsam poplar, which it surpasses also in beauty 

 of foliage. The Ontario poplar has no economic value ; and as it is always female,® 

 producing downy fruit in quantity, and also produces suckers freely, it is objection- 

 able in ornamental plantations. 



Nearly all the balsam poplars in England belong to this species, and the finest 

 specimen is probably a tree at Syon, which measured, in 1906, 85 ft. by 9 ft. Another 

 at Bayfordbury was 70 ft. by 65^ ft. in 19 10. Of the numerous trees which we have 

 seen in other places, none are noteworthy as regards size, 60 to 70 ft. being apparently 

 the average in England for full-grown trees. '^ (H. J. E.) 



1 Michaux, however, states that it was common in Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire, but always 

 planted. He had never seen it in forests. It is mentioned by Duhamel, Traiti des Arbres, ii. i8i (i7SS), as a poplar found 

 in the neighbourhood of Quebec, where it was known as Hard, with a leaf like a maple, white beneath, and exhaling a very 

 odorous balsam. 



2 Sargent, however, figures staminate as well as pistillate flowers. ^ In Bot. Gaz. v. 91 (1880). 

 ^ Bull. Illinois State Lab. Nat, Science, Urbana, ix. 287, plate xlviii. fig. 2 (1912). 



5 Trees of New England, 37 (1902). Britton and Shafer, N. Amer. Trees, 169 (1908), apparently do not agree with 

 these authors, and simply state : " Evidence that it is wild in Michigan has been adduced, and it is probably indigenous 

 farther to the north-west." 



6 It is evident from Fougeroux, in Mint. d'Agric, Paris, 1786, i. pp. 91, 94, that in France at that early period, 

 P. candicans was always female, and P. balsamifera always male, as is, now the case in England. His account is however 

 confused, as he transfers the name Hard to P. balsamifera, and beaumier du Pirou to P. candicans, the converse being correct. 



^ In Mitt. Deut. Dend. Ges. 1904, p. 19, a tree named Populus balsamea, growing at Schloss Dyck near Dusseldorf, 

 was reported to be 38 metres high by 4.25 metres in girth. It is unlikely that this tree was any species of balsam poplar. 



