Part 15

=Winter Buds and Leaves.=--Buds conical, acute, more or less resinous. Leaves 3-6 inches long, two-thirds as wide, densely white-tomentose when young, at length dark green on the upper side, lighter beneath and smooth except along the veins; outline ovate, wavy-toothed; base heart-shaped, lobes often overlapping; apex obtuse; leafstalk long, round, downy; stipules soon falling.

=Inflorescence.=--April to May. Sterile catkins when expanded 3-4 inches long, at length pendent; scales cut into irregular divisions, reddish; stamens numerous, anthers oblong, dark red: fertile catkins spreading, few and loosely flowered, gradually elongating; scales reddish-brown; ovary short-stalked; styles 2-3, united at the base; stigmas 2-3, conspicuous.

=Fruit.=--Fruiting catkins spreading or drooping, 4-5 inches long: capsules usually erect, ovoid, acute, shorter than or equaling the slender pedicels: seeds numerous, white-hairy.

=Horticultural Value.=--Not procurable in New England nurseries or from collectors; its usefulness in landscape gardening not definitely known.

1. Winter buds. 2. Branch with sterile catkin. 3. Sterile flower. 4. Scale of sterile flower. 5. Branch with fertile catkin. 6. Fertile flower. 7. Fruiting branch with mature leaves.

=Populus deltoides, Marsh.=

Populus monilifera, Ait.

COTTONWOOD. POPLAR.

=Habitat and Range.=--In moist soil; river banks and basins, shores of lakes, not uncommon in drier locations.

Throughout Quebec and Ontario to the base of the Rocky mountains.

Maine,--not reported; New Hampshire,--restricted to the immediate vicinity of the Connecticut river, disappearing near the northern part of Westmoreland; Vermont,--western sections, abundant along the shores of the Hoosac river in Pownal and along Lake Champlain (W. W. Eggleston); in the Connecticut valley as far north as Brattleboro (Flora of Vermont, 1900); Massachusetts,--along the Connecticut and its tributaries; Rhode Island,--occasional; Connecticut,--occasional eastward, common along the Connecticut, Farmington, and Housatonic rivers.

South to Florida; west to the Rocky mountains.

=Habit.=--A stately tree, 75-100 feet in height; trunk 3-5 feet in diameter, light gray, straight or sometimes slightly inclined, of nearly uniform size to the point of branching, surmounted by a noble, broad-spreading, open, symmetrical head, the lower branches massive, horizontal, or slightly ascending, more or less pendulous at the extremities, the upper coarse and spreading, rising at a sharper angle; branchlets stout; foliage brilliant green, easily set in motion; the sterile trees gorgeous in spring with dark red pendent catkins.

=Bark.=--In old trees thick, ash-gray, separated into deep, straight furrows with rounded ridges; in young trees light yellowish-green, smooth; season's shoots greenish, marked with pale longitudinal lines.

=Winter Buds and Leaves.=--Buds large, conical, smooth, shining. Leaves 3-6 inches long, scarcely less in width, variable in color and shape, ordinarily dark green and shining above, lighter beneath, ribs raised on both sides; outline broadly ovate, irregularly crenate-toothed; apex abruptly acute or acuminate; base truncate, slightly heart-shaped or sometimes acute; stems long, slender, somewhat flattened at right angles to the plane of the blade; stipules linear, soon falling.

=Inflorescence.=--April to May. In solitary, densely flowered catkins; bracts lacerate-fringed, each bract subtending a cup-shaped scale; stamens very numerous; anthers longer than the filaments, dark red: fertile catkins elongating to 5 or 6 inches; ovary ovoid; stigmas 3 or 4, nearly sessile, spreading.

=Fruit.=--Capsules ovate, rough, short-stalked; seeds densely cottony.

=Horticultural Value.=--Hardy in southern-central New England; grows rapidly in almost any soil and is readily obtainable in nurseries. Where an immediate effect is desired, the cottonwood serves the purpose excellently and frequently makes very fine large individual trees, but the wood is soft and likely to be broken by wind or ice. Usually propagated from cuttings.

1. Winter buds. 2. Branch with sterile catkins. 3. Sterile flower, back view. 4. Sterile flower, front view. 5. Scale of sterile flower. 6. Fertile flower. 7. Fruiting catkin. 8. Branch with mature leaves. 9. Variant leaf.

=Populus balsamifera, L.=

BALSAM. POPLAR. BALM OF GILEAD.

=Habitat and Range.=--Alluvial soils; river banks, valleys, borders of swamps, woods.

Newfoundland and Nova Scotia west to Manitoba; northward to the coast of Alaska and along the Mackenzie river to the Arctic circle.

Maine,--common; New Hampshire,--Connecticut river valley, generally near the river, becoming more plentiful northward; Vermont,--frequent; Massachusetts and Rhode Island,--not reported; Connecticut,--extending along the Housatonic river at New Milford for five or six miles, perhaps derived from an introduced tree (C. K. Averill, Rhodora, II, 35).

West through northern New York, Michigan, Minnesota, Dakota (Black Hills), Montana, beyond the Rockies to the Pacific coast.

=Habit.=--A medium-sized tree, 30-75 feet high, trunk 1-3 feet in diameter, straight; branches horizontal or nearly so, slender for size of tree, short; head open, narrow-oblong or oblong-conical; branchlets mostly terete; foliage thin.

=Bark.=--In old trees dark gray or ash-gray, firm-ridged, in young trees smooth; branchlets grayish; season's shoots reddish or greenish brown, sparsely orange-dotted.

=Winter Buds and Leaves.=--Buds 3/4 inch long, appressed or slightly divergent, conical, slender, acute, resin-coated, sticky, fragrant when opening. Leaves 3-6 inches long, about one-half as wide, yellowish when young, when mature bright green, whitish below; outline ovate-lanceolate or ovate, finely toothed, gradually tapering to an acute or acuminate apex; base obtuse to rounded, sometimes truncate or heart-shaped; leafstalk much shorter than the blade, terete or nearly so; stipules soon falling. The leaves of var. intermedia are obovate to oval; those of var. latifolia closely approach the leaves of P. candicans.