AMERICAN LARGE ASPEN. 
125 
oval form, and about an inch in length. The leaves are about two inches 
broad, narrowed at the summit, and supported by long petioles ; they are 
of a dark green' colour, and, in the spring, their nerves are reddish : on 
stocks of 7 or 8 feet in height, they are nearly round, and are bordered 
with obtuse, irregular teeth ; on young shoots, they are twice this size, 
heart-shaped, and acuminate at the summit. Of all the American Poplars, 
this species has the most tremulous leaves, the gentlest air suffices to throw 
them into agitation. 
The wood of the American Aspen is light, soft, destitute of strength and 
of no utility. These defects are not even compensated by an ample size 
and rapid growth, and the tree is so much neglected that it is felled only 
to disencumber lands that are clearing for cultivation. It is greatly inferior 
to several species of the same genus, such, for example, as the Virginian 
Poplar, which is three times as large, more rapid in its growth, and of a 
more pleasing appearance. 
Observation . — Since the publication of the French edition of this work, 
I have been informed that the wood of the American Aspen has been suc- 
cessfully divided into very thin laminse , for the fabrication of women’s hats. 
These hats were for a short time fashionable in several towns of the United 
States. 
PLATE XCIX. 
Fig. 1. 1, A leaf of the natural size. 2, An ament. 
AMERICAN LARGE ASPEN. 
Populus grandidentata. P. petiolis supernè compressis ; foliis subrotundd- 
ovalibus, acuminatis ; utrinquè glabris, inœqualiter sinuato-grandidentatis ; 
junioribus villosis. 
The American Large Aspen belongs rather to the Northern and Middle, 
than to the Southern States, in the upper parts only of which it is found. 
In the north of the United States, this Poplar, though not one of the most 
rare, is not one of the most common trees, and is so thinly scattered over 
the face of the country, that sometimes not a single stock is met with by 
the traveller for several days. For this reason, probably, it has hitherto 
Vol. II.— 17 
