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POPLAR.— POPULUS. 



Natural order, Amentacece. A genus of the 

 Dicecia Octandria class. 



" And poplar, that with silver lines its leaf." Cowper. 



" The poplar is by great Alcides worn." Virgil. 



" A double wreath Evander twined, 



And poplars black and white his temples bind." Ib. 



These towering aquatic trees, which the 

 Greeks named Asuxt], and Atyet^og 9 were, in 

 ancient times, held sacred to Hercules, who 

 wore a crown, composed of the foliage of the 

 poplar, in his descent to the infernal regions. 

 The ancients, who had a fable for every sub- 

 ject for which they could not find a philoso- 

 phical reason, thus accounted for the different 

 hues which the leaf has on its opposite sides. 

 The leaves of which the hero's crown was 

 composed, on the side next his head, retained 

 their natural pale colour, or, as some say, 

 received that pallid hue from the perspiration 

 of his brow ; but the other side, being ex- 

 posed to the smoke and noisome vapours of 

 the dismal dominions he was visiting, took a 

 darker tint, which they still retain. 



