The Large-Toothed Aspen -—Populus gran dident at a 
TN early spring the Large-toothed Poplar 
is the most conspicuous tree in the forest. 
T he young growth is so thickly covered with 
a cottony down that the tree stands strongly 
revealed against the darker background of 
the neighboring branches. When the leaves 
are fully expanded much of this whiteness is 
lost and the tree resumes its normally incon¬ 
spicuous position. 
Before the developing leaves show them¬ 
selves the tree sends out long, pendent fes¬ 
toons of greenish gray, or reddish odorless 
blossoms, those bearing pollen being reddish 
and upon one tree, those bearing pistils of 
grayish green upon another, the wind carry¬ 
ing the fertilizing pollen from the one to the 
other. T hese blossoming catkins resemble 
those of the aspen, but a close exami¬ 
nation will show a hairy covering upon the 
scales at the base of the catkins instead of 
the varnish-like coating upon the hud-scales 
of the aspen. The seeds mature in May or 
June and are covered with a woolly down 
that enables them to float in the air. 
In summer the Large-toothed Aspen is 
easily distinguished by its good-sized leaves, 
coarsely dentate on the margins, with long, 
vertical, flattened petioles that give the blades 
great freedom of motion. The side margins 
of the blades are usually turned upward so 
that the upper surface of the leaf is concave, a 
circumstance which renders them much more 
likely to be constantly twisted by the wind 
than if the blades were flat. In autumn the 
leaves turn yellow before falling, some of 
those on the tips of the twigs assuming beautiful 
orange-red hues. The leaves on the suckers 
that spring up from underground roots or 
about the base of a stump are different from 
normal leaves of the species being larger, ser¬ 
rate rather than dentate, and commonly cov¬ 
ered on the under surface with a cottony down. 
T he bark of the tree trunk is dark gray, 
marked with short vertical furrows which 
do not extend very far. The bark, as a rule, 
is darker than that of aspens of the same 
size, and there is not so striking a difference 
in color at the junction of the branches 
with the trunk as there is in the case of the 
aspen. The buds are pointed and downy. 
