122 TACAMAHACA, OR BALSAM POPLAR. 
so as to conceal the junction of the petiole. The aments are drooping and 
about 3 inches long, or only half as long as those of the Carolinian Poplar. 
The wood of the Cotton Tree is soft, light, unfit for use, and inferior, in 
my opinion, to that of the White Poplar and of the Virginia and Lombardy 
Poplars. The heart is yellowish inclining to red, and the young branches 
are filled with a pith of the same color. 
This tree flourishes in France, but it is to be regretted that the quality of 
its wood does not correspond to the interest inspired by its elevated stature 
and beautiful foliage. 
PLATE XCVII. 
A leaf of half the natural size. Fig. 1 , A small branch with leaves a few days 
after their unfolding. 
TACAMAHACA, OR BALSAM POPLAR. 
Populus BAisAMiFERA. P. foliis ovato-lanceolatis serratis, subtus albidis, stipulis 
resinosis . 
This species of Poplar belongs to the northern regions of America to 
which I have not extended my researches. My father, who traversed 
Lower Canada and particularly the country lying between Quebec and 
Hudson’s Bay, found the Balsam Poplar very abundant on the shores of 
Lake St. John, and in all the districts watered by the river Saguenai, 
between the 47th and 49th degrees of latitude. Notwithstanding the seve- 
rity of the winter, it rises to the height of 80 feet with a diameter of 3 feet. 
It is multipled at Tadousack and Malebay near the river St. Lawrence, 
but, in approaching Montreal, it becomes less common, and is rare on the 
shores of Lake Champlain. Such are nearly its northern and southern 
limits. 
In the spring, when the buds begin to be developed, they are abundantly 
coated with a yellowish, glutinous substance, of a very agreeable smell, 
and, though this exudation diminishes at the approach of summer, the buds 
retain a strong balsamic odor. The leaves are borne on long, round peti- 
