XCY. SALICACEiE 
481 
2. POPULUS. The classical name. — N. temperate regions. 
Populus ciliata, Wall. ; FI. Br. Ind. v. 638. A tree. Leaf-buds 
sticky. Leaves ovate-lanceolate, 3-6 x 2J-4^ in., cordate, acute, mi- 
nutely pubescent along the edges ; teeth small, often unequal; stalks 
2-4^ in. Flowers in drooping, raceme-like catkins appearing be- 
fore or with the young leaves. Male flowers : perianth bell-shaped, 
margins undulate ; stamens numerous, filaments free ; bracts 
fringed. Female catkins 6-12 in. : perianth bell-shaped, bluntly 
toothed ; ovary conical, ovules along the centre of the valves ; 
stigmas 3-4, nearly sessile, spreading, 2-lobed. Capsule ovoid, 
J-A in., opening by 3-4 valves, rarely by 2 ; seeds numerous. 
The female tree is common, the male apparently rare. 
Simla ; February-April. — Temperate Himalaya. 
The Lombardy Poplar, P. pyramidalis, and the White Poplar or Abele 
P. alba, are planted at Simla as they are in Britain. 
XCVI. GNETACE^ 
EPHEDRA. The classical name. — Europe, temperate Asia, 
S. America. 
Ephedra gerardiana, Wall. ; FI. Br. Ind. v. 640, and 863. 
A shrub, 1-2 ft., rigid, nearly erect, glabrous ; branches slender, 
green, finely grooved, often curved. Leaves reduced to oppo- 
site, membranous scales sheathiug the joints of the branches. 
Flowers minute, 1-sexual, in the axils of the uppermost bracts of 
small, cone-like spikes ; bracts opposite, united, the lower ones 
empty. Male and female spikes on separate plants. Male spikes 
solitary or in pairs, rarely in whorls of three : flowers 3-4 pairs ; 
perianth shortly tubular, membranous, flattened, mouth 2-lobed ; 
filaments united in a column protruding from the perianth and 
carrying a head of 5-8 globose, 2-celled anthers opening by pores. 
Female spike solitary : bracts 2-3 pairs ; flowers 1 or 2, each 
consisting of a single, erect, sessile, naked ovule with 2 coats, 
the outer one thick and perforated at the tip, the inner thin and 
prolonged upwards into a style -like tube which protrudes through 
the outer coat and is persistent in fruit. Fruit ovoid, J in. long, 
sweet, edible, pink or red when ripe, consisting of 1 or 2 hard 
seeds more or less enclosed by the succulent bracts. 
Top of Shall ; May, June. — Himalaya. — Tibet. 
The Shali plant is var. saxatilis, Stapf, Die Arten der Gattung Ephedra, 
Wien, 1889, p. 75. 
