WILLOW FAMILY 
ally, enlarged at the base. Stipules vary in shape and remain until 
the leaf is half grown. 
flowers.—March, April, before the leaves. Pistillate aments are 
two and one-half to four inches long, one-third of an inch thick ; 
A Staminate 
anda Pistillate 
Flower of Bal- 
sam, Populus 
balsamifera ; 
scales are broadly ovate, light brown, scarious, often 
irregularly three-lobed or parted at the apex which 
is fringed with short thread-like lobes. Stamens 
twenty to thirty, with short filaments and large light 
red anthers, inserted on an oblique, slightly concave, 
short-stalked disk. Ovary ovate, slightly two-lobed, 
sessile in a deep cup-shaped disk. Stigmas two, ses- 
sile, dilated. 
Fruit.—Fruiting aments four to six inches long; 
capsules open May or June, are ovate-oblong, often 
curved, two-valved, light brown. Seeds oblong-ovate, 
light brown surrounded by slender hairs which sur- 
round the aments with masses of snow-white cotton 
which is wafted with the seed great distances from the 
enlarged. tree. 
The greatest part of the drift timber that we observed on 
the shores of the Arctic Sea was Balsam Poplar. Its Cree 
name is Matheh-metoos, which means ugly poplar. 
—Sik JOHN FRANKLIN's Report of Last Journey. 
The Balsam or Tacmahac is the largest tree 
of northwestern America. In the valley of the 
Mackenzie and upper Yukon xt attains magnifi- 
cent proportions, reaching the height of one 
hundred feet with a diameter of six or seven, 
and forms dense forests thousands of square 
miles in exteut. It possesses all the poplar 
characteristics ; of drooping catkins, whitish 
trunk, fluttering shimmering leaves, and cot- 
tony seeds. 
Populus balsamifera candicans is the tree in 
northeastern United States and Canada known 
as the Balm of Gilead. It is more and more fre- 
quently cultivated as a shade-tree, especially in 
cities where bituminous coal is habitually used. 
Three varieties are distinguished in cultivation. 
Balsam, Populus 
balsamtifera. 
Fruiting Am- 
ents 40 0 o 
long. 
It differs from the specific form in its more spreading 
branches, in its broader heart-shaped leaves which are more 
424 
