6o 
WAYSIDE AND WOODLAND TREES. 
by itself sufficient grounds for separation — there is the more 
important fact that the Black Poplar rarely produces suckers 
from its roots, whilst the Lombardy Poplar does so constantly. 
However, this is a point we can leave for the botanists to 
discuss ; for the purposes of this book the two trees are 
sufficiently distinct to be treated separately. 
The Lombardy Poplar {Populus fastigiatd) is no more a 
native of Italy than of England. Its home is in the Taurus and 
the Himalayas, whence it has spread into Persia. Introduced 
into Southern Europe, it has become specially abundant along the 
rivers of Lombardy, and so in France and England it bears the 
name of that country. Lord Rochford introduced it to England 
from Turin in 1758. Its leaves are like those of the Black Poplar, 
but its branches, instead of spreading, all grow straight upwards, 
so that the fastigiate or spire shape of the tree is produced — a 
shape only found otherwise among coniferous trees, particularly 
in the Cypress, the Juniper and the Irish Yew. It is its form, 
great height (100 to 150 feet), and rapidity of growth that have 
led to its wide use here as an ornamental tree — in many cases 
as a mere vegetable hoarding to shut out some offensive view. 
Its growth is extremely rapid, especially during its first score of 
years, when it will attain a height of sixty feet or more, provided 
it be grown in good, moist (but not marshy) soil. Its wood is, 
of course, of little value, and is chiefly used for making boxes and 
packing-cases, where its lightness, combined with toughness and 
cheapness, is an advantage. The bark is rough and deeply 
furrowed, unlike the other species, and the trunk is twisted. 
Like the Black Poplar, it has smooth shoots, and the unopened 
buds are sticky. It is propagated in this country by suckers and 
cuttings. It is said that the first trees introduced were so 
obtained, and that they were all from male trees ; consequently, 
that we have no female trees here, and seed production is im- 
possible. If the female grows here, it is certainly very scarce. 
The bark has been used for tanning. 
