1658 



ARBORETUM AND FltUTlCETUAi. 



PART II] 



It comes into leaf, in the climate of London, 



in the last week of April, or in the beginning 



of May • about which time the male catkins 



have chiefly dropped on 1 '. The cottony seed 



is ripe about the middle oi' May, ami is so 



abundant, even in young trees, as to cover the 



ground under them like a fall of snow. When 



young, the tree shoots up with a strong erect 



stem, which is much less liable to put out 



timber-like branches than any other poplar 



whatever, except P. fastigiiita and P. balsa- 



mifera. The rate of growth, in the climate of 



London, on good soil, is between 30 ft. and 



40ft. in 7 years; and even in Scotland it has 



attained the height of 70 ft. in 16 years. There 



appears to be little doubt of its being a native 



of America ; but, as Pursh has only seen it in 



gardens there, and neither Michaux nor his 



lather had ever seen it there at all, we think it probably only a cultivated 



variety of P. canadensis ; which, as we have before observed, comes so near the 

 P. nigra of Britain, as to induce us to think that they are not specifically dif- 

 ferent. P. monilifera was introduced into England in 1772, from Canada; but, 



as it is figured in Abbott and Smith's Natural History of Georgia, vol. ii. t. 71., 



it appears to be also a native of that country. After its first introduction, it 



does not appear to have been much cultivated for some years, when it was 



brought into notice by Messrs. Archibald Dickson and Co., of Hasendeanburn 

 Nursery, under the name of the black Italian poplar. Its history under this name 

 is thus given in Pontey's Profitable Planter : — Messrs. Dickson obtained the 

 plant from a gentleman in their neighbourhood, who had received it from his 

 son, then residing in North America. Mr. Archibald Dickson then travelled 

 for the firm through most of the northern districts of England ; and, having 

 a high opinion of this poplar, of which he had been the first to procure a 

 stock of plants, he recommended it every where. The name of the black 

 Italian poplar he accounted for to Mr. Pontey, by saying that he had learned 

 that this sort of poplar was common in Italy, as well as in America. Mr. 

 Pontey adds, in confirmation of Mr. Dickson's statement : " As I can now 

 recollect his having so recommended the article, and also having bought our 

 first stock from him, in or about the year 1787, I have, therefore, good reason 

 to suppose his account is in every respect accurate : indeed, it stands strongly 

 confirmed by the age of the trees found on the southern verge, and within his 

 route, as they are much older than those to the south of it; and, therefore, I 

 think Messrs. Dickson entitled to the credit of having first recommended and 

 disseminated a tree, the rapid growth of which, in addition to its being highly 

 ornamental, will prove of essential benefit to the country." {Pontey's Prof. 

 Planter, p. 218.) This was written in 1813, when Mr. Pontey published 

 the first edition of his book ; and the black Italian poplar has, since that 

 period, been far more extensively planted in Britain than any other species 

 or variety of the genus. Notwithstanding this evidence in favour of its being 

 a native of North America, we think (as we believe all the white-barked pop- 

 lars, sin h aiP. nigra, P. canadensis, P. fretulaefdlia,P. fastigiiita, and P. angu- 

 lata, to be different forms of one species) that P. monilifera may have been 

 originated in Italy or Switzerland, and carried out to North America; and, if 

 so, this will readily account for the English name of black Italian, the 

 American name, mentioned by Michaux and Browne, of Swiss poplar, and the 

 French name of Peuplier Suisse. We have heard of a plant of P. fastigiata, 

 which appears to be throwing out a side branch of P. monilifera; but we are 

 not authorised at present to state any particulars respecting it. The female 

 eatkinfl of the two kinds appear so much alike, as to leave no doubt in our 

 minds of their identity as species. 



