WILLOW FAMILY 



ally, enlarged at the base. Stipules vary in shape and remain until 

 the leaf is half grown. 



Flowers. — March, April, before the leaves. Pistillate aments are 

 two and one-half to four inches long, one-third of an inch thick ; 

 scales are broadly ovate, light brown, scarious, often 

 irregularly three-lobed or parted at the apex which; 

 is fringed with short thread-like lobes. Stamens 

 twenty to thirty, with short filaments and large light 

 red anthers, inserted on an oblique, slightly concave, 

 short-stalked disk. Ovary ovate, slightly two-lobed, 

 sessile in a deep cup-shaped disk. Stigmas two, ses- 

 sile, dilated. 



Fruit. — Fruiting aments four to six inches long ; 



capsules open May or June, are ovate-oblong, often 



■* ^"|J!'"^'° curved, two-valved, light brown. Seeds oblong-ovate, 



FiowerofBal- ^'g^t brown surrounded by slender hairs which sur- 



sam, Popuius round the aments with masses of snow-white cotton 



baUamifera: which is wafted with the seed great distances from the 



enlarged. tree. 



The greatest part of the drift timber that we observed on 

 the shores of the Arctic Sea was Balsam Poplar. Its Cree 

 name is Matheh-metoos, which means ugly poplar. 



— Sir John Franklin's Report of Last Journey. 



The Balsam or Tacmahac is the largest tree 

 of northwestern America. In the valley of the 

 Mackenzie and upper Yukon it attains magnifi- 

 cent proportions, reaching the height of one 

 hundred feet with a diameter of six or seven; 

 and forms dense forests thousands of square 

 miles in extent. It possesses all the poplar 

 characteristics ; of drooping catkins, whitish 

 trunk, fluttering shimmering leaves, and cot- 

 tony seeds. 



Popuius balsamifera candicans is the tree in 

 northeastern United States and Canada known 

 as the Balm of Gilead. It is more and more fre- 

 quently cultivated as a shade-tree, especially in 

 cities where bituminous coal is habitually used. 

 Three varieties are distinguished in cultivation. 



It differs from the specific form in its more spreading 

 branches, in its broader heart-shaped leaves which are more 



434 



Balsam, Popuius 

 balsamifera. 

 Fruiting Am- 

 ents 4' to & 

 long. 



