330 



^'EEDS AXD USEFUL PLANTS. 



Stem 30-50 feet high, and 2-8 or 4 feet in diaineter at base, widely branching above, — 

 the young branches greenish, very numerous, slender, long and perpendicularly pendent. 

 Leaves 2-4 or 5 inches long, narrow-lanceolate, the larger ones -with a long acumination, 

 smooth ; petioles 1-2 lines tong. Pistillate aments about an inch long, mostly ascending 

 or turned up, on the pendulous branches ; scales lanceolate, smooth. 



About houses : introduced. Fl. April. Fr. 



Obs. This elegant a,nd interesting species — a native of the East — is 

 deservedly admired, and much cultivated, as a shade tree. The pistillate 

 plant, only, has been introduced to this country. Its specific name was 

 given, by Linn^us, under the idea that it might be the tree so touch- 

 ingly referred to in the 137th Psalm : — " By the rivers of Babylon, 

 there we sat down ; yea, we wept, w^hen we remembered Zion. We 

 hanged our harps upon the Willows in the midst thereof." There are 

 many others of this difficult genus, mostly native species, abundant in 

 low grounds ; they are mostly low shrubs, and though great puzzles to 

 the botanist, are of but little interest to the farmer. 



2. POP'ULUS. Tournef. PorLAR. 



[Latin, Fopiilus, the people ; the tree of the people; being used to shade public -walks.] 



Aments with laciniate or fringed bracts. Calyx subturbinate, — the 

 limb oblique, lengthened in front, entire, surrounding the stamens or 

 pistil. Stamens ^-I'l^ ov more; — the filaments free. Stigmas 2^ elon- 

 gated. Capsule 1-celled, 2-valved. Trees wath more or less angular, 

 often stoutish, l>rancJics ; duds with numerous scales covered with a res- 

 inous varnish, and usually broad, more or less heart-shaped leaves on 

 long laterally-compressed petioles. Flowers in long pendulous aments 

 appearing before the leaves, — dracts and calyx similar in both kinds. 



1. P. tremuloi'des, Mx. Leaves cordate-orbicular, abruptly acuminate, 

 unequally dentate-serrulate, pubescent on the margin ; bracts deeply 3 - 

 4-iobed, divisions linear. 



Tkemula-like Populus. American Aspen. 



Stem 30-50 or 60 feet high, and 12-lS inches in diameter, with a smoothish-cinereous 

 bark. Leaves about 2 inches in length, and rather wider than long; petioles 2-8 inches 

 long, slender, smooth, subterete to'wards the base, laterally compressed or vertically 

 dilated near the leaf, which disposes the leaf to bo agitated by the slightest motion of the- 

 air. Pis^«7^r/ife araents 3-4 or 5 inches long. 



Low swampy grounds : Ifurthern and Middle States. Fl. April. Fr. May. 



Obs. This is a rather pretty tree, — and is occasionally planted about 

 houses and lawns, for shade and ornament. It is admired for th-e ex- 

 treme mobility of its leaves ; and is, moreover, in considerable repute 

 for the tonic properties of its bark. The large-toothed Aspen, or Large 

 Poplar (P. grandidentata, Mx?) is common northward ; it is a larger 

 tree than the preceding and differs from it in having much larger, round- 

 ish and coarsely-toothed leaves, and the scales of the aments cut into 5 

 or (3 unequal small lobes. 



