824 ARBORETUM ET FRUTICETUM BRITANNICUM. 
¥ 7. P. ni'era L. The black-barked, or common black, Poplar. 
Identification. Lin, Sp. Pl., t. 1464. ; Eng. Fl., 4. p. 245. ; Hook. Fl. Scot., 280. ae 
Synonymes. P. alba Trag. Hist. 1080. fig.; P. viminea Du Ham. Arb.; P. vistulénsis Hort., 
P, polénica Hort. ; Aigeiros, Greek ; Kabaki, Modern Greek ; the old English Poplar, Sefolk; 
the Willow Poplar, Cambridgeshire ; Water Poplar ; the female of P. nigra is called the Cotton 
Tree at Bury St. Edmunds; Peuplier noir, Peuplier liard, Osier blanc, Fr.; schwarze Pappel, 
er. 
Engravings. Eng. Bot., t. 1910.; the plate of this species in Arb. Brit., 1st edit., vol. vii. ; and our 
fig. 1498. 
Spec. Char.,§c: Petiole somewhat compressed. Disk of leaf deltoid, pointed, 
serrated with glanded teeth, glabrous on both surfaces. Catkins lax, 
- cylindrical. Stigmas 4, simple, spreading. (Smith.) A tree. Europe, 
from Sweden to Italy, on the banks of rivers, and in moist woods; and 
found, also, in the north of Africa. Height 50 ft. to 80 ft. Flowers dark 
red; March and April. Seed ripe in May. Decaying leaves rich yellow. 
Variety. 
¥ P.n. 2 viridis Lindl. P. viridis Lodd. Cat. ed. 1836. — Leaves of a 
brighter green than in the species. 
The leaves are slightly notched on their edges, of a pale light green; and 
the petioles are yellowish. The leaves are protruded about the middle of 
May, much later than those of P. fastigiata, P. alba, or P. (a.) canéscens ; 
and, when they are first expanded, their colour appears a mixture of red and 
yellow. The catkins are shorter than those of P. trémula or P, alba ; they 
appear before the leaves, in March and April; those of the males are of a dark 
red, and, being produced in abundance, have a striking effect. The capsules 
of the female catkins are round ; and the seeds which they enclose are en- 
veloped in a beautiful white cotton. The tree is of rapid growth, especially 
in good, soil, in moist situations, or on the banks of rivers. In the climate of 
London, it attains the height of 30 or 40 ft. in ten years; and, when planted 
for timber, arrives at perfection in from forty to fifty years, beginning to decay 
when about sixty or eighty years old. It is readily known from all other species 
from the numerous large nodosities on its trunk. It bears lopping ; and, when 
treated as a pollard, it produces abun- 
dance of shoots. In moist soil, when 
cut down to the ground annually, it 
throws up numerous shoots, like wil- 
lows. The wood is yellow, soft, and, 
being more fibrous than that of any 
other species of poplar, it splits more 
readily than the wood of either P. alba 
or P. trémula. It weighs, in a green 
state, 60 1b. 90z. per cubic foot; half- 
dry, 42 lb. 13 oz.; and dry, 29 lb.: thus 
losing more than one half its weight by 
drying ; and it loses, ‘by shrinking, more 
than a sixth of its bulk. It is applied 
to all the different purposes of that of P. 
alba, but its most general use on the 
Continent is for packing-cases, more especially for the transport of bottled 
wines. In Berlin, the wood produced by knotty trunks, which is curiously 
mottled, is much used by cabinetmakers for making ladies’ workboxes, which 
are celebrated both in Germany and France. This wood is brought from the 
banks of the Vistula, where the tree abounds, and hence the names of 
P. vistulénsis and P. poldnica. 
£8. P.(?N.) canapE’Nsis Miche. The Canadian Poplar. 
Identification. Michx. Arb., 3. p, 298. ; N. Amer. Syl., 2. p. 227. 
Synonymes. P. levigata Willd. Sp. Pl. 4. p. 803., Pursh Fl. Amer. Sept. t.2. p. 619., Spreng. Syst. Veg. 
2. p. 244., but not of Hort. Kew.; P. monilifera Hort. Par., ‘Nowe, Cours, &c.3 Cotton-wood, 
Michz. ; Peuplier de Canada, Fr. in Nowv. Cours d’ Agri. edit. 1822, tom. xi. p. 407. 
The Seves. Willdenow has seen the male living; Bosc says that only the female is in France, 
Engravings. Mich. Arb., 3. t.11.; North Amer. Syl., 2. t. 95.; and our fig. 1499. 
1498. P. nigra. 
