SALICACEAE 
Lombardy Poplar 
Populus nigra italica DuRoi [Populus fastigiata Desf.] 
[Populus dilatata Ait.] 
HABIT.—A tree 75-100 feet high, with a short, ridged and 
buttressed trunk 4-6 feet in diameter and a narrow, spire-like 
crown of erect branches. 
LEAVES.—Alternate, simple, 2-4 inches long, and usually 
somewhat broader than long; broad-deltoid, abruptly acuminate ; 
finely but bluntly crenate-serrate; thick and firm; dark green and 
shining above, lighter and more or less lustrous beneath; petioles 
slender, laterally compressed, 1-2 inches long. 
'FLOWERS.—April-May, before the leaves; dioecious; the 
staminate in sessile, dark red, cylindrical catkins about 3 inches 
long; the pistillate not present in the United States; calyx 0; 
corolla 0; stamens about 8, with white filaments and purple 
anthers. 
FRUIT.—Not formed in the United States in the absence of 
pistillate flowers. 
WINTER-BUDS.—Terminal bud conical, slightly angled, 
taper-pointed, glutinous, about 3% inch long; lateral buds smaller, 
appressed. 
BARK.—Twigs glabrous, shining yellow, becoming gray; 
thick and gray-brown on old trunks, deeply and irregularly fur- 
rowed. 
‘WOOD,.—Light, soft, easily worked, not liable to splinter, 
weak, not durable, light red-brown, with thick, nearly white sap- 
wood. 
NOTES.—Thought to be a native of Afghanistan. Very 
rapid in growth. Short-lived. Spreads by means of suckers and 
fallen branches. Useful for ornamental purposes. Because of 
crowding the limbs die early, which remain and cause the tree to 
look unsightly. 
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