THE POPLAR. 



PoPULUS. 



Class — DiCECiA. Order — Octandria. 



Natural Order — AMENTACEiE. 



No greater contrast can be well imagined than 

 that afforded by the trees of this tribe, when 

 compared with the one which forms the subject 

 of the last chapter. The terms ancient, um- 

 brageous, wide-spreading, picturesque, may be 

 applied to the Beech with propriety; the very 

 reverse of all these will characterise some one 

 or other of the Poplars. The contrast extends 

 even to their places of growth ; for while the 

 hill-side is the favourite haunt of the Beech, 

 the Poplar, for the most part, prefers the river's 

 bank. The foliage of the Beech, again, is 

 heavy, unless examined in detail ; that of the 

 Poplar scanty, and remarkable for being nearly 

 always in motion, a peculiarity to be attri- 

 buted to the slenderness and singular formation 

 of its leaf-stalks. It bears its flowers in cat- 

 kins : these are of tw^o kinds, each growing on 

 separate trees, the barren conspicuous for their 

 length and the large size of the anthers, on 

 which account they have been compared to large 

 red caterpillars ; the fertile ones, Vvhich are 

 often equally long, may readily be distinguished 

 by the downy wool which invests the seeds, and 



