Poplar

Poplar, the English name for the trees of the genus Populus, which belongs to the Willow tribe, and is distinguished by its broad leaves on long, vertically-compressed leaf-stalks, jagged catkin scales to both male and female catkins, rudimentary perianth-tube, numerous stamens, and cottony seeds. Poplars are quick-growing trees, forming soft wood, of little use except for paper-pulp; but several species are ornamental trees. P. alba (the White Poplar or Abele), P. canesccns (the Grey Poplar), P. nigra (the Black Poplar), and P. trewula (the Aspen), are natives of Britain. P. fastigiata, the Lombardy Poplar, a variety of the Black Poplar, with fastigiate or vertical branches, reaching a height of 100 to 150 feet, and now forming a familiar change to what might be monotony in our landscape, is of recent introduction. In North America poplars are known as "Cottonwoods." The so-called Black Italian Poplar (P. monilifera) and the Tacamahac (P. balsamifera), are natives of that continent commonly planted in England.