VIRGINIAN POPLAR. 
119 
Hudson, above Albany, but I presume that it grows also in the provinces 
of Canada, which I have never visited. The stocks which I have observed 
were insulated, and consequently spread into a diffuse summit, hence I was 
unable to determine the stature of this tree when confined in the forest, 
but their size, which was 30 or 40 feet in height and 12 or 15 inches in 
diameter, sufficiently proves that it surpasses the American Aspen and the 
Large Aspen. 
The bark of the young branches is of a grayish white, and the buds, 
which spring from the bosom of the leaves, are of a dark brown. One of 
the distinctive characters of this species is the hairiness of the young shoots 
and of the petioles in the spring, which is perceptible, also, on the back of 
the young leaves. The leaves are smooth, of a beautiful green color, den- 
ticulated, rounded in the middle, and acutely tapering toward the summit. 
When fully developed they are a little more than 3 inches long, about 2 
inches broad, and, unlike the leaves of trees in general, they exhibit nearly 
the same shape from the moment of their unfolding. The aments of this 
Poplar are 4 or 5 inches long, and destitute of the hairs which surround 
those of several other species. 
As this tree is rare in the United States, and as I have observed it only 
on the banks of the Hudson, where it is never used, I can afford no infor- 
mation concerning the quality of its wood ; but, if we may judge from its 
appearance, it is inferior to the Virginian and Lombardy Poplars. 
Several large trees of this species are seen growing in New York, near 
the Park, which are called American Black Poplars. 
PLATE XCVI. 
Fig. 1 , Leaves of the American Black Poplar. 
VIRGINIAN POPLAR. 
Populus monilifera. P foliis deltoideis , glabris, crenatis, petiolis aspice compres- 
sé, in adultis ramis teretibus. 
Though this tree has been found neither by my father and myself, nor 
by several learned English botanists, who like us have traversed the Atlan- 
tic and a great part of the Western States in every direction, I have thought 
