330 



WEEDS AND USEFUL PLANTS. 



Stem 30 - 50 feet high, and 2 - 3 or 4 feet in diameter at base, widely branching above, — 

 the young branches greenish, ver5^ numerous, slender, long and perpendicularly pendent. 

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

 smooth ; pelioles 1-2 lines long. PMillate aments about an inch long, mostly ascending 

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



About houses : introduced. Fl. April. ' Fr. 



Ohs. This elegant and 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, when 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. Poplar. 



[Latin, Populus, 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 S- 12, or move ; — the Jil aments free. Stigmas 2, elon- 

 gated. CapsvJe 1-celled, 2-valved. Trees with more or less angular, 

 often stoutish, branches ; buds 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, — bracts and calyx similar in both kinds. 



1. P. tremuloi'des, ^J^x. Leaves cordate-orbicular, abruptly acuminate, 

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

 4-lobed, divisions linear. 



Tremijla-like Populus. American Aspen. 



stem 30-50 or 60 feet high, and 12-18 inches in diameter, with a smoothish cinereous 

 bark. Leaves about 2 inches in length, and rather wider than long ; petioles 2-3 inches 

 long, slender, smooth, subterete towards the base, laterally compressed or vertically 

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

 air. Pistillate aments 3 - 4 or 5 inches long. 



Low swampy grounds : Xorthern and Middle States. J^Z. 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 the 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 6 unequal small lobes. 



