820 ARBORETUM ET FRUTICETUM BRITANNICUM. 
is derived from the Dutch name of the tree, Abeel ; and this name is supposed by some to be taken 
from that of the city of Arbela, in the plains of Nineveh, near which, on the banks of the Tigris 
and Euphrates, great numbers of these trees grew. It is said to be the same tree as that mentioned 
in the ‘Bible as Abel-shittim, Chittim, Shittim-wood, and Kittim. The Dutch Beech is an old 
name, given to this tree, as we are informed by Hartlib, in his Compleat Husbandman (1659), on 
account of ten thousand trees of it having been brought over all at once from Flanders, and 
planted in the country places ; where the people, not knowing what they were, called them Dutch 
beech trees. The French name of Ypréau alludes to the tree being found in great abundance 
near the town of Ypres. . 2 
The Sexes. Both sexes are described in the inguish Flora, and are not unfrequent in plantations. 
Engravings. Eng. Bot., t.1618.; Hayne Abbil t. 202.; the plate of this tree in Arb. Brit., lst 
edit., vol. vii. ; and our jig. 1492, 
Spec. Char., §c. Leaves lobed and toothed ; some- 
what heart-shaped at the base; snow-white, and 
densely downy beneath. Catkins of the female 
plant ovate. Stigmas 4. (Smith.) Root creeping, 
and producing numerous suckers. Branches very 
white, and densely downy when young. Leaves 
angular, and generally with three principal lobes, 
variously and unequally toothed, blunt-pointed, 
veiny ; dark green and smooth above, and covered 
with a thick remarkably white down beneath. 
The leaves vary very muchin form ; and on young 
luxuriant branches they are almost palmate. The 
leaves are not folded in the bud, and the buds T4S8. Bebibee 
are without gum. A large tree. Europe, in woods 
or thickets, in rather moist soil. Height 90 ft. Flowers dark brown ; 
March. Seed ripe; May. Decaying leaves dark brown. 
Varieties, These are numerous, but the principal one, P. (a.) canéscens, being 
generally considered as a species, we shall first give it as such ; after enu- 
merating the varieties which belong to P. alba. 
£ P. a. 2 hybrida Bieb. Fl. Taur. Cauc. 2. p.423. and Suppl. p. 633.. 
P. alba Bieb. 1. c.; ? P. intermédia Mertens; P. a. crassifolia 
Mertens; and P. grisea Lodd. Cat. 1836. — Appears to be inter- 
mediate between P. alba and P. (a.) canéscens. It is plentiful in 
the neighbourhood of streams in Tauria and Caucasus; whence it 
appears to have been introduced into Britain in 1816. 
¥ P. a. 3 acerifolia, P. acerifolia Lodd. Cat. ed. 1836; P. quercifdlia 
Hort.; P. palmata Hort.; P. arembérgica Lodd. Cat. 1836; P. 
bélgica Lodd. Cat. 1836.-—- A very distinct variety of P. dlba, with 
the leaves broad, and deeply lobed, like those of some kinds of 
Acer, 
% P. a. 4:céndicans. P. candicans Lodd. Cat. ed. 1836 ; P. nivea Lodd. 
Cat. — A strong-growing variety of P. alba ; probably identical with 
P.acerifolia. This is the P. tomentésa of the Hawick Nursery, 
and the hoary poplar of the Edinburgh nurseries, where it is propa- 
gated by layers. 
* P. a. 5 egyptiaca Hort. P.a, pallida Hort. ; the Egyptian white Poplar. 
— A much weaker-growing plant than any of the preceding varieties. 
¥ P. a. 6 pendula, P.a, var. gracilis ramis pendéntibus Mertens. — Spe- 
cimens of this variety, of both sexes, are in the Linnean herbarium ; 
and there are trees of it on the ramparts at Bremen. 
2. P. (a.) canz’scens Smith, The grey, or common white, Poplar. 
Identification. Smith Fl. Brit., p. 1080.; Eng. Fl, 4. _p. 243. 
Synonymes. P. alba Mill. Dict. ed. 8. No. 1.; P. Alba foliis minéribus Ratt Syn, 446.; P. alba 
folio mindre Bauh. Hist. v. 1. p.-2. 160. fig.4 Peuplier erisailte, Fr. 
The Sexes. Only the female plant is expressly described in the English Flora. The plant in the 
Horticultural Society’s Garden is the male. 
ingravings. Eng. Bot., t. 1619.; Hayne Abbild., t. 201.; and our fig. 1493. 
Spec. Char., &c. Leaves roundish, deeply waved, toothed; hoary and downy 
beneath. Catkins of the female plant cylindrical, Stigmas 8. It is 
essentially distinguished from P. alba, as Mr. Crowe first discovered, 
by the stigmas, which are 8, spreading in two opposite directions. The 
