WILLOW FAMILY 
Though heart of oak be e’er so stout 
Keep me dry, and I'll see him out. 
—Old inscription on a poplar plannr, 
The wood of this tree under the name of Black Poplar is 
much used in the west in the interior finish of buildings. 
This is the one poplar whose petioles are not laterally com- 
pressed—therefore the leaves do not flutter as do those of 
other species. It is called the Downy Poplar because the 
leaves retain the down on their veins more abundantly than 
other poplars. 
BALSAM. TACMAHAC. BALM OF GILEAD 
Pépulus balsamtfera. 
In New England and middle States about. sixty feet high, but in 
the Valley of the Mackenzie River in Canada it reaches one hun- 
dred feet, with a trunk six or seven feet in diameter. Prefers the 
bottom-lands of rivers and borders of swamps. 
Bark.—On old trees dark brownish gray, divided into broad 
rounded ridges covered with small closely appressed scales. On 
younger stems and branches light brown tinged with green, and 
smoothed or roughened by dark excrescences. Branchlets stout, 
dark red brown, shining or downy at first, later they become dark 
orange, finally gray tinged with yellow green. 
Wood.—Light brown, sapwood nearly white; light, soft close- 
grained, not strong. Used extensively in the manufacture of paper. 
Sp. gr., 0.3635; weight of cu. ft., 22.65 lbs. 
Winter Buds.—Leaf-buds ovate, long pointed, brownish yellow, 
the terminal bud nearly an inch long. The axillary three-quarters 
of an inch long. Saturated with a yellow balsamic sticky exudation, 
shining, beginning to open soon after midwinter, they are covered 
with five oblong, closely imbricated, thick scales. Flower-buds sim- 
ilar to terminal leaf-buds. 
Leaves.—Alternate, three to five inches long, one and one-half to 
three inches wide, ovate-lanceolate, rounded or cordate at base, 
crenate-serrate with slightly thickened margins, acute or acuminate ; 
midrib and primary veins conspicuous. They come out of the bud 
involute, light yellow green coated with the gummy secretions of 
the bud and slightly hairy, when full grown are deep dark green, 
shining above, pale green often ferruginous below. In autumn 
they turn a bright yellow. Petioles long, slender, compressed later- 
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