SALIX 
l 3 
6. # POPULUS TACAMAHACCA. Ontario Poplar. Plate 17 
P. foliis subcordis inferne incanis superne atroviridis Miller Gard. Diet. ed. 7, no. 7 (1759). 
Populus tacamahacca Miller Gard. Diet. ed. 8, no. 6 (1768); Fougeroux in Mem. Agric. ( Soc . Roy. 
Paris ) for 1786, pt. i, 91 (1787) excl. syn. Catesby et syn. Duhamel ; P. candicans Aiton Hort. Kew. iii, 406 
( r 789) ; Dode op. cit. 65 (1905); Ascherson und Graebner Syn. iv, 51 (1908); P. balsamifera var. candicans 
Gray Man. ed. 2, 419 (1856). 
leones : — Sargent Sylv. N. Amer. ix, t. 491, as P. balsamifera var. candicans. 
Camb. Brit. FI. ii (1913). Plate 17. (a) Twig with pistillate catkins, (b) Pistillate flowers and bracts. 
(c) Pistillate flower and bract (enlarged), (d) Shoot in summer. ( e ) Base of leaf (enlarged). Planted tree, 
near Huntingdon (E. W. H.). 
Small tree, attaining a height of about 15 — 20 m., sometimes with suckers. Winter-buds 
narrow and pointed, resinous and odorous when opening. Laminae of the lower leaves broadly 
subcordate, hairy at least below when young ; of the upper leaves more acuminate ; the earliest 
poplar in this country to unfold its leaves. Pistillate catkins drooping, up to about 15 or 16 cm. 
long ; late February or March. Stigmas yellowish at first, then pink. Capsules with stout pedicels, 
April. Staminate plants not seen. 
Often mistaken for the balsam poplar ( P . balsamifera L. Sp. PI. 1034 (1753)), to which it is closely allied, but 
which has much narrower and non-cordate laminae, and which is very rare in this country even in cultivation. 
There is some confusion in the American floras as to the distribution of this species. Britton and Brown (///. FI. 
i. p. 491, 1896) state that it occurs from “New Brunswick to New Jersey, west to Minnesota, mostly escaped from 
cultivation, apparently indigenous northwards”; but in Gray’s New Manual (p. 329 (1908)) we read that it is “perhaps 
of Asiatic origin.” Gates, in a recent paper dealing with the vegetation of Illinois and south-eastern Wisconsin {Bull. 
Illinois Lab. ix. p. 287 (1912)), states that sand dunes in the district he describes are sometimes “surmounted by 
narrow groves of balm of Gilead {Populus candicans).” 
Frequently planted, especially in suburban gardens ; more rarely along the borders of woods, as in the 
West Riding of Yorkshire. It seems to flourish best on siliceous soils. Very common around London, in 
the north of England, and in the south of Scotland. 
Genus 2. Salix 
Salix [Tournefort Inst. 590, t. 364 (1719)]; L. Sp. PI. 1015 (1753) et Gen. PI. ed. 5, 447 (1754); Pax in 
Engler und Prantl Pflanzenfam. iii, pt. i, 36 (1894); A. et G. Camus Classif. Saul. 9 (1904) et ii, 9 (1905); v. 
Seemen in Ascherson und Graebner Syn. iv, 54 (1908). 
Trees, shrubs, or undershrubs, rarely with suckers. Buds with only 2 scales which are con- 
crescent. Stipules caducous or more or less persistent. Petioles usually much shorter than in Populus , 
not laterally compressed. Laminae usually narrower than in Populus , entire or more or less serrate, 
not lobed. Catkins appearing before the leaves or at the same time, or a little later, sometimes 
with a second crop in the summer or autumn, usually suberect or spreading, ovoid or cylindrical ; 
pistillate ones lengthening in fruit. Bracts entire, usually ciliate or hairy. Flowers dioecious (rarely 
monoclinous or monoecious), insect-pollinated. Perianth modified into 1 or 2, rarely more nectaries ; 
nectaries median ; when 2 or more, more or less coherent at the base or free ; when 2, 1 anterior 
(i.e., between the flower and the bract), and 1 posterior (i.e., between the flower and the axis), 
the anterior one smaller than the posterior one and the posterior one not infrequently lobed; when 1, 
posterior. Stamens 2 — 12, rarely more, with filaments free or more or less coherent. Ovary stalked 
(i.e., with a gynophore) or sessile. Stigmas 2, entire or bifid. 
About 160 species, many of which hybridise; chiefly in the Arctic and north temperate zones. 
Sections of Salix 
Section I. Amerina (p. 14). Trees or large shrubs. Laminae lanceolate, serrate, acute to 
acuminate. Catkins lateral (i.e., from lateral buds formed the preceding year), cylindrical, the pistillate 
ones on leafy peduncles, appearing with the leaves or a little later. Bracts yellowish, not darker 
towards the tip. Nectaries 2 to each staminate flower, 1 — 2 to each pistillate flower; when 2, free or 
coherent a little at the base. Stamens 2 — 12, rarely more, with filaments and anthers free. Style short. 
Stigmas bifid or emarginate. Capsules glabrous. 
Section II. Chamaetia (p. 25). Dwarf undershrubs, with rhizomes. Petioles about as long 
as the laminae. Laminae broadly elliptical or suborbicular. Stem prostrate. Catkins terminal (i.e., 
from terminal buds formed the preceding year), on leafless peduncles. Bracts concolorous or rather 
