[ in J 
COTTON WOOD- 
Populus canadensis. P. foins nuignis latà-cordatis , crenatis, glabris ; basi 
glandulosis ; ramis angulatis in adultis. 
This species, like the Virginian Poplar, has long been known in Europe. 
It was probably introduced into France from Canada ; such at least is the 
origin indicated by the name Canadian Poplar. I have found this tree in 
the upper part of the State of New York, on the banks of the river Gene- 
see which empties into Lake Ontario in the 43d degree of latitude, in 
some parts of Virginia, and on several islands of the Ohio. I have every 
where seen it on the margin of rivers, in a fat, unctuous soil; exposed to 
inundation at their overflowing in the spring. It is never met with on the 
skirts of swamps and in other wet grounds in the forests. On the banks of 
the Genesee, where the winter is as rigorous as in the north of Germany, 
the Cotton Wood is 70 or 80 feet high and 3 or 4 feet in diameter. 
The remarks communicated to me byM. De Foucault, who has long cul- 
tivated this tree and studied it with more minute attention than myself, 
agree perfectly with the result of my own observations in the country of its 
natural growth. “ The leaves,” says M. De Foucault, “are deltoid, or 
trowel-shaped, approaching to cordiform, always longer than they are broad, 
glabrous and unequally toothed: the petioles are compressed and of a yel- 
lowish green, with two glands of the s^me color as the base : the branches 
are angular, and the angles form whitish lines, which persist even in the 
adult age of the tree. Every soil does not suit the Cotton Wood ; in com- 
pact argillaceous lands it grows less kindly than the Virginian Poplar. 
“The Virginian Poplar is justly preferred as a useful tree, not only 
because it is less difficult in the choice of soil, but because it is superior in 
height: the elevation of the Cotton Wood is repressed by the frequent 
ramification of its limbs near the trunk, and if the lower limbs are lopped 
away the same form is assumed by those above. 
“The Cotton Wood is a more picturesque tree than the Virginian Poplar, 
particularly when growing on the sides of rivers. Its trunk is very plainly 
sulcated, even in its old age. It is less so, indeed, than the Carolinian 
Poplar, but far more so than the Virginian Poplar, whose trunk is rounder 
and summit more spherical ; hence the two species are easily distinguished. 
The Cotton Wood, also, acquires a superior bulk.” 
The female aments are 6 or 8 inches long, flexible and pendulous. The 
seeds are surrounded with a beautiful plume which has the whiteness of 
Vol. II.— 16 
