Part 23

WOOD.--Light, soft, weak, close-grained, not durable, light brown, with thin, whitish sapwood.

DISTRIBUTION.--Common throughout the state, but most abundant in the Upper Peninsula.

HABITAT.--Prefers moist, sandy soil and gravelly hillsides.

NOTES.--One of the first trees to cover burned-over lands. Grows rapidly. Usually short-lived. Propagated from seed or cuttings.

1. Winter twig, × 2. 2. Leaf, × 1. 3. Staminate flowering branchlet, × 1/2. 4. Staminate flower, enlarged. 5. Pistillate flowering branchlet, × 1/2. 6. Pistillate flower, enlarged. 7. Fruit, × 1/2.]

+SALICACEAE+

+Largetooth Aspen+

Populus grandidentata Michx.

HABIT.--A medium-sized tree 30-50 feet high, with a slender trunk 12-20 inches in diameter; forming a loose, oval or rounded crown of slender, spreading branches and coarse spray.

LEAVES.--Alternate, simple, 3-5 inches long, two-thirds as broad; orbicular-ovate; coarsely and irregularly sinuate-toothed; thin and firm; dark green above, paler beneath, glabrous both sides; petioles long, slender, laterally compressed.

FLOWERS.--April, before the leaves; dioecious; the staminate in short-stalked catkins 1-3 inches long; the pistillate in loose-flowered, long-stalked catkins at first about the same length, but gradually elongating; calyx 0; corolla 0; stamens 6-12, with red anthers; stigmas 2, 2-lobed, red.

FRUIT.--May; 2-valved, conical, acute, hairy capsules 1/8 inch long, borne in drooping catkins 4-6 inches long; seeds minute, dark brown, hairy.

WINTER-BUDS.--Terminal bud 1/8 inch long, ovoid to conical, acute, light chestnut, puberulous, dusty-looking.

BARK.--Twigs greenish gray and at first hoary-tomentose, becoming lustrous, orange or red-brown and finally greenish gray; thick, dark red-brown or blackish at the base of old trunks, irregularly fissured, with broad, flat ridges.

WOOD.--Light, soft, weak, close-grained, light brown, with thin, whitish sapwood.

DISTRIBUTION.--A common tree in the northern portions of the Lower Peninsula, but rare in the Upper Peninsula.

HABITAT.--Prefers rich, moist, sandy soil; borders of swamps; river-banks; hillsides.

NOTES.--Grows rapidly in many soils. Easily transplanted. Short-lived. Useful for temporary effect. Propagated from seed or cuttings.

1. Winter twig, × 1. 2. Leaf, × 3/4. 3. Staminate flowering branchlet, × 1/2. 4. Staminate flower, enlarged. 5. Catkin of pistillate flower, × 1/2. 6. Pistillate flower, enlarged. 7. Fruit, × 1/2.]

+SALICACEAE+

+Balm of Gilead. Balsam+

Populus balsamifera L.

HABIT.--A tree 60-75 feet high, with a trunk diameter of 1-3 feet; forming a rather narrow, open, pyramidal crown of few, slender, horizontal branches.

LEAVES.--Alternate, simple, 3-6 inches long, about one-half as broad; ovate to ovate-lanceolate; finely crenate-serrate; thin and firm; lustrous, dark green above, paler beneath; petioles 1-1/2 inches long, slender, terete, smooth.

FLOWERS.--April, before the leaves; dioecious; the staminate in long-stalked catkins 3-4 inches long; the pistillate in loose-flowered, long-stalked catkins 4-5 inches long; calyx 0; corolla 0; stamens 20-30, with bright red anthers; ovary short-stalked; stigmas 2, wavy-margined.

FRUIT.--May-June; 2-valved, ovoid, short-pedicelled capsules 1/4 inch long, borne in drooping catkins 4-6 inches long; seeds light brown, hairy.

WINTER-BUDS.--Terminal bud about 1 inch long, ovoid, long-pointed, brownish, resin-coated, sticky, fragrant.

BARK.--Twigs red-brown, becoming dark orange, finally green-gray; thick, grayish on old trunks, and shallowly fissured into broad, rounded ridges, often roughened by dark excrescences.