128 FAMILIAR TREES 
the close of the eighteenth century, noticed this form 
growing wild in various parts of his county, recom- 
mended its wood for flooring. Poplar wood in general 
has the advantage over resinous woods of not readily 
igniting. The leaves of the Grey Poplar are thin, 
rounder than those of the Abele and less deeply 
toothed, with bluntly triangular lobes and apex and 
a general outline approaching the orbicular. Their 
under surfaces are grey rather than white, and they 
become smooth, or nearly so, later. The veins are 
pinnately arranged, but the two lower secondary ones 
are nearly as large and prominent as the midrib, thus 
producing a slight development of that “ pseudo- 
palmate” condition which is more marked in the 
more lobed leaves of the Abele. The buds and shoots 
are cottony, much as are those of the Abele. The 
most distinctive feature of the form is the stigma, 
which is not merely two-lobed or four-lobed, as in 
other Poplars, but, as Mr. Crowe discovered, eight- 
lobed and purple. 
