414 THE CATKIN FAMILY. 
inch long, finely éscadion green, glabrous, and veined like thoSe of 
S. Myrsinites, or sometimes slightly silky-hairy when young. Catkins 
very small, ovoid, and few-flowered, on very short, leafless peduncles, 
or almost sessile, opposite the last leaf of the young shoots. In fruit 
they sometimes attain half an inch. Capsules nearly glabrous, fully 2 
lines long. 
In alpine pastures, in northern and Arctic Europe and Asia, and in 
the Alps and Pyrenees. Common at high elevations in the mountains 
of Scotland, northern England, North Wales, and Ireland. Fl. swmmer. 
IX. POPULUS. POPLAR. 
Leaves usually broadly triangular or nearly orbicular, on slender 
stalks, the scales of the leaf-buds often covered with a resinous varnish. 
Catkins cylindrical, usually silky-hairy, the scales irregularly toothed 
or lobed at the top. Perianth (or inner united scales) a small, flat, 
oblique cup. Stamens in the males from about 8 to near 30, with 
slender filaments and small anthers. Ovary in the females ee 
with several ovules inserted on short, parietal placentas. Styles 2, 
with deeply forked stigmas. Fruit a capsule, opening in 2 valves. 
Seeds several, minute, with a tuft of long, silky hairs. 
A small genus, confined to the temperate regions of the northern 
hemisphere, very near the Willows in flowers and fruit, but distinct in 
habit and foliage, and in the presence of an apparent perianth. 
Under side of the leaves and young shoots very white and cottony Le PB. ibe, 
Under side of the leaves green and glabrous. 
Leaves ovate-triangular, tapering at the top, with small, regular 
teeth. . & P. nigra. 
Leaves small, orbicular or rhomboidal, regularly and rather 
coarsely toothed . ; . 2 P. tremula. 
The Tacamahac or balsam Basie (P. bab sonnei fl a ‘is Carolina Poplar 
(P. angulata), and other North American species, are often planted. 
1. P. alba, Linn. (fig. 933). White P., Abele.—A tall and handsome ; 
tree, with a light-grey or ash-coloured bark, the young shoots, as well 
as the under side of the full-grown leaves, covered with a close, very 
white cotton. Leaves orbicular or very broadly ovate, irregularly — 
sinuate or shortly lobed, more or less cordate at the base, Catkins 
sessile, about 2 inches long, the membranous scales jagged at the top, 
very deciduous, hairy in the males, less so in the females. Stamens 
usually about 8. Lobes of the stigmas linear. 
Along streams, and in open, moist woods, dispersed over contest and 
southern Europe and temperate Asia. In Britain, very generally planted, - 
and probably also indigenous. Fl. spring. P. canescens is a variety [or 
hybrid with P. tremula] with rather smaller leaves, seldom lobed, and 
not so white. 
2. P. tremula, Linn. (fig. 934). Aspen.—A smaller tree than our 
two other Poplars, of slower growth, the branches more slender. Leaves 
nearly orbicular, like those of P. alba, but smaller, often not an inch 
broad, less deeply toothed, scarcely cordate, of a thinner texture, with- 
out any white cotton, although sometimes very pale underneath; the ~ 
leafstalks particularly slender, so that the blade trembles with the ~ 
slightest motion of the air, Catkins much smaller than in P, alba, the — 
