ITALIAN POPLAR. SAGO. 255 
The bark is so thick and light that ix is not unfrequently 
used by fishermen as buoys or floats to support their 
nets. The inhabitants of Kamtschatka dry and pul- 
verise the inner rind of the black poplar-tree, and use 
it as an ingredient in bread. The buds, when they 
first appear, are covered with and contain a viscous 
and fragrant juice, which may be advantageously used 
in plasters. 
265. The LOMBARDY or ITALIAN POPLAR (Po- 
pulus dilatata) grows wild in Lombardy and the northern parts 
of Italy, and is distinguished by its somewhat trowel-shaped and 
serrated leaves, being smooth on both sides, and wider than they 
are long. 
From its slender and perpendicular growth the Lom- 
bardy poplar is found useful for hop- poles, and may 
be formed into masts for small vessels. The wood, 
which is soft and free from knots, is employed by 
joiners, carpenters, and cartwrights. It is recommended 
as peculiarly valuable for the floors of granaries, some 
persons believing it so obnoxious to insects that weevils 
will not continue in such granaries. It may be wrought 
into very flexible shafts for carriages, or felloes for 
wheels; and, not being liable to split, is peculiarly 
adapted for packing cases. 
The growth of this tree is so rapid, and the space of 
ground which it occupies is so small, that it is in almost 
universal request as an ornamental tree, in places that 
are not sufficiently spacious to admit of trees of more 
spreading form. 
POLYANDRIA. 
266. SAGO is a granulated preparation from the pith of a 
species of palm-tree (Cycas circinalis) which grows in India and 
Africa.' 
This tree attains the height of thirty or forty feet; has a 
straight and somewhat slender stem, and winged leaves at the 
summit, each seven or eight feet long, with the leaflets long 
and narrow* 
