Populus 1 841 



Himalayas, occurring both wild and cultivated, at high elevations, 8000 to 

 14,000 ft. Herbarium specimens of this poplar agree with P. tristis in the 

 pubescent buds, with occasional persistent stipules, hairy branchlets, and narrow 

 leaves usually rounded but occasionally subcordate at the base. They bear pistillate 

 catkins, 4 to 6 in. long, with densely pubescent axes and pedicels ; disc crenate ; 

 ovary pubescent, globose, crowned by three two-lobed stigmas ; capsule, pubescent 

 with scattered long hairs, and splitting into three valves, each with a deep longi- 

 tudinal furrow on the outer surface, not seen in any other species. Koehne's identifi- 

 cation is probably correct, but the material for comparison is not sufficient. 



I am indebted to Spath of Berlin for fresh branches of this poplar which agree 

 perfectly with Fischer's type specimen of P. tristis, preserved in the Kew Herbarium. 

 So far as I know, it is rare in cultivation in England. At Grayswood, Haslemere, 

 it is slow in growth, a plant obtained from Spath in 1 896 being only about 4 ft. high, 

 but quite healthy. At Kew there are several small specimens, which retain their 

 foliage hanging withered on the branches during winter. There is also a specimen 

 in the Edinburgh Botanic Garden, about 6 ft. high, and not in a thriving state. 



(A. H.) 



POPULUS SUAVEOLENS 



Populus suaveolens} Fischer, in Allgem. Gartenzeit. ix. 404 (1841), and Bull. Sc. Ac. Imp. PHersb. ix. 



348 (1842); A. Henry, in Gard. Chron. liii. 198, fig. 88 (1913). 

 Populus balsamifera, Pallas, M. Ross. i. 67, t. xli. fig. i, A and C (1784) (not Linnaeus). 

 Populus balsamifera, Linnaeus, vara, intermedia and suaveolens, Loudon, Arb. et Prut, Brit. iii. 



1674 (1838). 



A tree, attaining in central Asia 50 ft. in height. Young branchlets terete, 

 slightly pubescent above the nodes. Leaves (Plate 410, Fig. 25) ovate-lanceolate 

 or ovate, 3 to 3^ in. long, i:^ to 2 in. wide, rounded at the base, usually abruptly 

 narrowed towards the acuminate apex ; margin ciliate, finely crenate -serrate, with 

 incurved glandular points ; nerves running to the margin about eight pairs, the lower 

 two or three pairs arising close together at the base, making it palmately five- 

 nerved ; glabrous on both surfaces, whitish beneath. 



Staminate catkins not seen. Pistillate catkins about 3 in. long ; axis densely 

 pubescent, with white stiff hairs, which are also present on the three-valved globose 

 ovary, and on the extremely short pedicels ; disc orbicular, slightly concave, 

 pubescent beneath, with a wavy and densely ciliate margin ; stigma two-lobed. 



This species in the wild state appears to be variable in the width of the leaf, 

 and in the amount of pubescence on the branchlets and petioles. It has smaller and 

 narrower leaves than any of the balsam poplars, which have whitish leaves beneath. 



p. Przewalskii^ Maximowicz, in Mdl. Biol. xi. 321 (1881), founded on 



1 Fischer's description is founded on Pallas's figure, and agrees with a specimen collected in Soongaria by Schrenk in 

 1840. Cf. my article in Gard. Chron. cited above. 



* Dode, in M^. Soc. Hist. Nat. Autun, xviii. 55 (1905), identifies with this species P. rasumowskyana and P. 

 petrowskyana, hybrid poplars originating in Europe, which resemble in no respect the type specimen of P. Przewalskii 

 preserved in the Kew Herbarium. Cf. pp. 1843, 1844. 



