Handbook of Trees of the Xortiiekn States and Canada. 



97 



The Lombardy Poplar is tlie most distinct 

 of tlie Foplai-s in habit of growth, and prob- 

 ably no other introduced tree has been more 

 widely planted for ornamental purposes. Its 

 tall spire-shaped tops are land-marks in al- 

 most every populated region from the Atlantic 

 to the Pacific and from the Canadian frontier 

 to the Jlexican boundary, and in some Euro- 

 pean countries it is much more abundant than 

 here. It is a tree of very rapid growth and. 

 in our northern states, short-lived, but once 

 planted it spreads by means of suckers and 

 persists in the soil for generations, often be- 

 coming a nuisance in its abundance. Its de- 

 sirability, however, in landscape architecture, 

 as for the relief of a monotonous sky-line, is 

 undisputed. It sometimes attains the height of 

 100 ft. with short ridged and buttressed trunk 

 6-8 ft. in diameter, and this latter measure- 

 ment is hardly more than doubled in the width 

 of its compact narrow top. Botanically the 

 tree is a bone of contention. Its leaf and 

 floral characters are so close to those of the 

 European P. nigra L. that it is held by some 

 to be a sport of that species, all existing trees 

 having come from a certain one or few trees 

 found growing somewhere naturally many 

 years ago. This theory would seem to be sub- 

 stantiated by the fact that in this country at 

 least all of the trees are staminate, repro- 

 duction being effected by its stoloniferous 

 roots and fallen branches. The theory is mili- 

 tated against by tlie fact that its new shoots 

 are glabrous, while those of P. nigra are 

 pubescent. For convenience we will consider 

 it a sport of the P. nigra. It takes its name 

 from the province of Lombardy in Italy, but 

 its hardiness in far colder climates than that 

 of Italy would indicate its origin in a more 

 northern region. It is thought to have origi- 

 nated in Afghanistan where it is said to grow 

 naturally as a forest tree. 



The botanical characters, so far as we are 

 able to observe them by a study of the tree as 

 we have it in this country — the staminate 

 only, — are apparently identical with those of 

 the P. nigra, excepting its fastigiate habit of 

 growth and glabrous new shoots. 2 



1. Syn. Populiis dilatata .\it. 



2. For P. nigra L. see p. 427. 



3. A. \V., III. 73. 



