PoPULUS. 



SALICACEyE. 



215 



3. Populus monilifera, Ait. Virginian Poplar. 

 Young branches scarcely angled, broadly deltoid-subcordate, acuminate, serrate-toothed, 



smooth on both sides, nearly entire at the base ; scales of the ament lacerately ciliate, not 

 hairy ; rachis and pedicels smooth ; ovary globose-ovoid ; stigmas 3-4, nearly sessile, very 

 large and dilated — Ait. Kew. (ed. 1.) 3. p. 406 ; Michx.f. sylv. 2. p. 113. t. 96. fig. 2 ; Loud, 

 enc. tr. shr. p. 825 ; Willd. sp. 4. p. 805 ; Pursh,fl. 2. p. 618 ; Beck, hot. p. 313. 



A tree 40 - 70 feet high and 1-3 feet in diameter, with spreading terete branches ; the 

 young shoots with slight angles, which finally are obliterated. Leaves 2-3 inches long, the 

 breadth equaling the length, truncate or somewhat cordate at the base, which is either even 

 or only furnished with a few obscure gland-like teeth : serratures of the margin rather blunt 

 and a little incurved. Sterile aments not. seen. Fertile aments finally 2-6 inches long. 

 Scales light brown, roundish, cut round the margin into numerous irregular narrow segments. 

 Torus smooth. Stigmas 3-4 (or 2 and deeply 2-parted, one of the lobes often wanting), 

 much dilated, undulate-toothed. 



Western part of the State, particularly near Oneida lake and along the Genesee river. Fl. 

 April. Fr. May. It is remarkable that neither the elder nor younger Michaux found this 

 poplar in any part of North America, for it is by no means a rare species. 



4. Populus heteropiiylla, Linn. Cotton-tree. 



Branches terete ; leaves ovate or roundish-ovate, obtuse, serrate, cordate at the base, with 

 the small sinus closed by the overlapping lobes, clothed with a white tomentum when young, 

 but finally almost or quite smooth except on the veins ; ovaries globose-ovoid, on long pedicels ; 

 style conspicuous; stigmas deeply 2-lobed, rather large. — Linn. sp. (ed. 2.) 2. p. 1464; 

 Michx.fl. 2. p. 244 ; Pursh, fl. 2. p. 619 ; Torr. compend. p. 375 ; Beck, bot. p. 323. P. 

 argentea, Michx.f. sylv. 2. t. 97. 



A tree 40 - 60 feet high and 1-2 feet in diameter. Leaves 3-6 inches long (on young 

 sprouts sometimes 8-10 inches long and 7-9 inches wide), more or less ovate, never 

 acuminate and usually quite blunt, when young covered with a thick white down, which at 

 length disappears entirely from the upper surface, and even from the under side except on the 

 veins, mostly cordate, with the small auriculate lobes folded over each other so as to conceal 

 the insertion of the petiole : serratures small and obtuse : petiole nearly round. Sterile aments 

 not seen, but, according to the elder Michaux, the flowers are polyandrous. Fertile aments 

 very smooth, in fruit about 6 inches long, the pedicels nearly as long as the distant capsules : 

 style somewhat persistent, longer than in any other North American Poplar. 



Swamps, Staten Island, about three miles south of the Quarantine, and on Long Island ; 

 Putnam county {Dr. Barratt). 



