74 FAMILIAR TREES 



species attracts attention as suitable for town plant- 

 ing, as more tolerant of the pruning-knife than our 

 native species, or as forming a screen more rapidly, it 

 may in a few years all but replace the less popular 

 indigenous kind. Thus it has come about that, 

 whilst the American P. monili'f era Ait., miscalled the 

 Black Italian Poplar, can be seen in many a London 

 square, and has been largely planted in some moist 

 situations as material for paper-pulp, it is difficult to 

 come across a genuine wild specimen of the true 

 P. nigra L. 



The Black Poplar is not indigenous in Ireland or 

 Scotland, and doubtfully so in England or the North 

 of Europe ; but its area of distribution extends from 

 Central Europe into Northern Asia. It may grow 

 fifty, or even eighty, feet in height, reaching forty feet 

 within ten years, but beginning to decay when sixty 

 or seventy years of age. Its branches spread in an 

 ascending, but not typically fastigiate manner, and it 

 will bear pollarding, or even coppicing, throwing out 

 an abundance of shoots ; but, unlike the Lombardy 

 Poplar, it does not produce suckers. The dark ash- 

 grey bark has been supposed to be the origin of the 

 name " Black" ; but perhaps this is only used in con- 

 tradistinction to " White," to signify the absence of 

 the white cottony down from the under surfaces of its 

 leaves. The buds are conical, or slightly angular, 

 and secrete gum, the bud-scales being stipular. The 

 outer pairs are hard and dead, the later pairs having 

 rudimentary leaves between them represented by 

 minute awl-shaped bodies. The terminal buds are 

 considerably larger, and the lateral ones are seated 



