Part 14

=Habit.=--A graceful tree, ordinarily 35-40 feet and not uncommonly 50-60 feet high; trunk 8-15 inches in diameter, tapering, surmounted by a very open, irregular head of small, spreading branches; spray sparse, consisting of short, stout, leafy rounded shoots set at a wide angle; distinguished by the slenderness of its habit, the light color of trunk and branches, the deep red of the sterile catkins in early spring, and the almost ceaseless flutter of the delicate foliage.

=Bark.=--Trunk pale green, smooth, dark-blotched below the branches, becoming ash-gray and roughish in old trees; season's shoots dark reddish-brown or green, shining; bitter.

=Winter Buds and Leaves.=--Buds 1/8-1/4 inch long, reddish-brown and lustrous, usually smooth, ovate, acute, often slightly incurved at apex, the upper often appressed. Leaves 1-2-1/2 inches long, breadth usually equal to or exceeding the length, yellowish-green and ciliate when young, dark dull green above when mature, lighter beneath, glabrous on both sides, bright yellow in autumn; outline broadly ovate to orbicular, finely serrate or wavy-edged, with incurved, glandular-tipped teeth, apex rather abruptly acute or short-acuminate; base acute, truncate or slightly heart-shaped, 3-nerved; leafstalk slender, strongly flattened at right angles to the plane of the blade, bending to the slightest breath of air; stipules lanceolate, silky, soon falling.

=Inflorescence.=--April to May. Sterile catkins 1-3 inches long, fertile at first about the same length, gradually elongating; bracts cut into several lanceolate or linear divisions, silky-hairy; stamens about 10; anthers red: ovary short-stalked; stigmas two, 2-lobed, red.

=Fruit.=--June. Capsules, in elongated catkins, conical; seeds numerous, white-hairy.

=Horticultural Value.=--Hardy throughout New England in the most exposed situations; grows almost anywhere, but prefers a moist, rich loam; grows rapidly; foliage and spray thin; generally short-lived; often used as a screen for slow-growing trees; type seldom found in nurseries, but one or two horticultural forms are occasionally offered. Propagated from seed or cuttings.

1. Branch with sterile catkins. 2. Sterile flower. 3. Branch with fertile catkins. 4. Fertile flower. 5. Fruiting branch. 6. Branch with mature leaves. 7. Variant leaves.

=Populus grandidentata, Michx.=

POPLAR. LARGE-TOOTHED ASPEN.

=Habitat and Range.=--In rich or poor soils; woods, hillsides, borders of streams.

Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, southern Quebec, and Ontario.

New England,--common, occasional at altitudes of 2000 feet or more.

South to Pennsylvania and Delaware, along the mountains to Kentucky, North Carolina, and Tennessee; west to Minnesota.

=Habit.=--A tree 30-45 feet in height and 1 foot to 20 inches in diameter at the ground, sometimes attaining much greater dimensions; trunk erect, with an open, unsymmetrical, straggling head; branches distant, small and crooked; branchlets round; spray sparse, consisting of short, stout, leafy shoots; in time and manner of blossoming, constant motion of foliage, and general habit, closely resembling P. tremuloides.

=Bark.=--Bark of trunk on old trees dark grayish-brown or blackish, irregularly furrowed, broad-ridged, the outer portions separated into small, thickish scales; trunk of young trees soft greenish-gray; branches greenish-gray, darker on the underside; branchlets dark greenish-gray, roughened with leaf-scars; season's twigs in fall dark reddish-brown, at first tomentose, becoming smooth and shining.

=Winter Buds and Leaves.=--Buds 1/8 inch long, mostly divergent, light chestnut, more or less pubescent, dusty-looking, ovate, acute. Leaves 3-5 inches long, two-thirds as wide, densely white-tomentose when opening, usually smooth on both sides when mature, dark green above, lighter beneath, bright yellow in autumn; outline roundish-ovate, coarsely and irregularly sinuate-toothed; teeth acutish; sinuses in shallow curves; apex acute; base truncate or slightly heart-shaped; leafstalks long, strongly flattened at right angles to the plane of the blade; stipules thread-like, soon falling.

=Inflorescence.=--March to April. Sterile catkins 1-3 inches long, fertile at first about the same length, but gradually elongating; bracts cut into several lanceolate divisions, silky-hairy; stamens about 10; anthers red: ovaries short-stalked; stigmas two, 2-lobed, red.

=Fruit.=--Fruiting catkins at length 3-6 inches long; capsule conical, acute, roughish-scurfy, hairy at tip: seeds numerous, hairy.

=Horticultural Value.=--Hardy throughout New England; grows almost anywhere, but prefers moist, rich loam; grows rapidly and is safely transplanted, but is unsymmetrical, easily broken by the wind, and short-lived; seldom offered by nurserymen, but readily procured from northern collectors of native plants. Useful to grow for temporary effect with permanent trees, as it will fail by the time the desirable kinds are well established. Propagated from seed or cuttings.

=Note.=--Points of difference between P. tremuloides and P. grandidentata. These trees may be best distinguished in early spring by the color of the unfolding leaves. In the sunlight the head of P. tremuloides appears yellowish-green, while that of P. grandidentata is conspicuously cotton white. The leaves of P. grandidentata are larger and more coarsely toothed, and the main branches go off usually at a broader angle. The buds of P. grandidentata are mostly divergent, dusty-looking, dull; of P. tremuloides, mostly appressed, highly polished with a resinous lustre.

1. Branch with sterile catkins. 2. Sterile flower, back view, 3. Sterile flower, front view. 4. Branch with fertile catkins. 5. Bract of fertile flower. 6. Fertile flower, front view. 7. Fruiting branch with mature leaves. 8. Fruit. 9. Fruit.

=Populus heterophylla, L.=

POPLAR. SWAMP POPLAR. COTTONWOOD.

=Habitat and Range.=--In or along swamps occasionally or often overflowed; rare, local, and erratically distributed.

Connecticut,--frequent in the southern sections; Bozrah (J. N. Bishop); Guilford, in at least three wood-ponds (W. E. Dudley in lit.), New Haven, and near Norwich (W. A. Setchell).

Following the eastern coast in wide belts from New York (Staten island and Long island) south to Georgia; west along the Gulf coast to western Louisiana, and northward along the Mississippi and Ohio basins to Arkansas, Indiana, and Illinois.

=Habit.=--A slender, medium-sized tree, attaining a height of 30-50 feet, reaching farther south a maximum of 90 feet; trunk 9-18 inches in diameter, usually branching high up, forming a rather open hemispherical or narrow-oblong head; branches irregular, short, rising, except the lower, at a sharp angle; branchlets stout, roundish, varying in color, degree of pubescence, and glossiness, becoming rough after the first year with the raised leaf-scars; spray sparse.

=Bark.=--Bark of trunk dark ash-gray, very rough, and broken into loosely attached narrow plates in old trees; in young trees light ash-gray, smooth at first, becoming in a few years roughish, low-ridged.