Handbook of the Trees of New England Part 8

[Ill.u.s.tration: PLATE XVIII.--Populus balsamifera.]

1. Branch with sterile flowers.

2. Sterile flower, back view.

3. Sterile flower, side view.

4. Scales of sterile flower.

5. Branch with fertile catkins.

6. Fertile flower.

7. Fruiting catkins, mature.

8. Branch with mature leaves.

=Populus candicans, Ait.=

_Populus balsamifera_, var. _candicans, Gray._

BALM OF GILEAD.

=Habitat and Range.=--In a great variety of soils; usually in cultivated or pasture lands in the vicinity of dwellings; infrequently found in a wild state. The original site of this tree has not been definitely agreed upon. Professor L. H. Bailey reports that it is indigenous in Michigan, and northern collectors find both s.e.xes in New Hamps.h.i.+re and Vermont; while in central and southern New England the staminate tree is rarely if ever seen, and the pistillate flowers seldom if ever mature perfect fruit. The evidence seems to indicate a narrow belt extending through northern New Hamps.h.i.+re, Vermont and Michigan, with the intermediate southern sections of the Province of Ontario as the home of the Balm of Gilead.

Nova Scotia and New Brunswick,--occasional; Ontario,--frequent.

New England,--occasional throughout.

South to New Jersey; west to Michigan and Minnesota.

=Habit.=--A medium-sized tree, 40-60 feet high; trunk 1-3 feet in diameter, straight or inclined, sometimes beset with a few crooked, bushy branchlets; head very variable in shape and size; solitary in open ground, commonly _broad-based, s.p.a.cious, and pyramidal_, among other trees more often rather small; loosely and irregularly branched, with spa.r.s.e, coa.r.s.e, and often crooked spray; _foliage dark green, handsome, and abundant_; all parts characterized by a strong and peculiar resinous fragrance. A single tree multiplying by suckers often becomes parent of a grove covering half an acre, more or less, made up of trees of all ages and sizes.

=Bark.=--Bark of trunk and lower portions of large branches dark gray, rough, irregularly striate and firm in old trees; in young trees and upon smaller branches smooth, soft grayish-green, often f.l.a.n.g.ed by prominent ridges running down the stalk from the vertices of the triangular leaf-scars; season's shoots often f.l.a.n.g.ed, s.h.i.+ning reddish or olive green, with occasional longitudinal gray lines, viscid.

=Winter Buds and Leaves.=--Buds dark reddish-brown, rather closely set along the stalk, conical or somewhat angled, narrow, often falcate, sharp-pointed, resinous throughout, viscid, aromatic, exhaling a powerful odor when the scales expand, terminal about 3/4 inch long.

Leaves 4-6 inches long and nearly as wide, yellowish-green at first, becoming dark green and smooth on the upper surface with the exception of a _minute p.u.b.escence along the veins_, dull light green beneath, finely serrate with incurved glandular points, usually ciliate with minute stiff, whitish hairs; base heart-shaped; apex short-pointed; petioles about 1-1-1/2 inches long, _more or less hairy_, somewhat flattened at right angles to the blade; stipules short, ovate, acute, soon falling.

=Inflorescence.=--Similar to that of _P. balsamifera_.

=Fruit.=--Similar to that of _P. balsamifera_.

=Horticultural Value.=--Hardy throughout New England; has an attractive foliage and grows rapidly in all soils and situations, but the branches are easily broken by the wind, and its habit of suckering makes it objectionable in ornamental ground; occasionally offered by nurserymen and collectors. Propagated from cuttings.

[Ill.u.s.tration: PLATE XIX.--Populus candicans.]

1. Winter bud.

2. Branch with fertile catkins.

3. Fertile flower.

4. Fruiting branch.

=Populus alba, L.=

ABELE. WHITE POPLAR. SILVER-LEAF POPLAR.

=Range.=--Widely distributed in the Old World, extending in Europe from southern Sweden to the Mediterranean, throughout northern Africa, and eastward in Asia to the northwestern Himalayas. Introduced from England by the early settlers and soon established in the colonial towns, as in Plymouth and Duxbury, on the western sh.o.r.e of Ma.s.sachusetts bay. Planted or spontaneous over a wide area.

New Brunswick and Nova Scotia,--occasional.

New England,--occasional throughout, local, sometimes common.

Southward to Virginia.

=Habit.=--A handsome tree, resembling _P. grandidentata_ more than any other American poplar, but of far n.o.bler proportions; 40-75 feet high and 2-4 feet in diameter at the ground; growing much larger in England; head large, spreading; round-topped, in spring enveloped in a dazzling cloud of cotton white, which resolves itself later into two conspicuously contrasting surfaces of dark green and silvery white.

=Bark.=--Light gray, smooth upon young trees, in old trees furrowed upon the trunk.

=Winter Buds and Leaves.=--Buds not viscid, cottony. Leaves 1-4 inches long, densely white-tomentose while expanding, when mature dark green above and white-tomentose to glabrous beneath; outline ovate or deltoid, 3-5-lobed and toothed or simply toothed, teeth irregular; base heart-shaped or truncate; apex acute to obtuse; leafstalk long, slender, compressed; stipules soon falling.

=Inflorescence and Fruit.=--April to May. Sterile catkins 2-4 inches long, cylindrical, fertile at first shorter,--stamens 6-16; anthers purple: capsules 1/4 inch long, narrow-ovoid; seeds hairy.

=Horticultural Value.=--Hardy. Thrives even in very poor soils and in exposed situations; grows rapidly in good soils; of distinctive value in landscape gardening but not adapted for planting along streets and upon lawns of limited area on account of its habit of throwing out numerous suckers and its liability to damage from heavy winds. The sides of country roads where the abele has been planted are sometimes obstructed for a considerable distance by the thrifty shoots from underground.

=Salix discolor. Muhl.=

p.u.s.s.y WILLOW. GLAUCOUS WILLOW.

=Habitat and Range.=--Low, wet grounds; banks of streams, swamps, moist hillsides.

Nova Scotia to Manitoba.

Maine,--abundant; common throughout the other New England states.

South to North Carolina; west to Illinois and Missouri.

=Habit.=--Mostly a tall shrub with several stems, but occasionally a.s.suming a tree-like habit, with a height of 15-20 feet and trunk diameter of 5-10 inches; one tree reported at Laconia, N. H., 35 feet high (F. W. Batchelder); branches few, stout, ascending, forming a very open, hemispherical head.

=Bark.=--Trunk reddish-brown; branches dark-colored; branchlets light green, orange-dotted.

=Winter Buds and Leaves.=--Buds ovate-conical; apex obtuse to acute.

Leaves simple, alternate, 2-4 inches long, smooth and bright green above, smooth and whitish beneath when fully grown; outline ovate-lanceolate to narrowly oblong-oval, crenulate-serrate to entire; apex acute, base acute and entire; leafstalk short; stipules toothed or entire.

=Inflorescence.=--March to April. Appearing before the leaves in catkins, sterile and fertile on separate plants, occasionally both kinds on the same plant, sessile,--sterile spreading or erect, oblong-cylindrical, silky; calyx none; petals none; bracts entire, reddish-brown turning to black, oblong to oblong-obovate, with long, silky hairs; stamens 2; filaments distinct: fertile catkins spreading; bracts oblong to ovate, hairy; style short; stigma deeply 4-lobed.

=Fruit.=--Fruiting catkins somewhat declined: capsules ovate-conical, tomentose, stem two-thirds the length of the scale: seeds numerous.

=Horticultural Value.=--Picturesque in blossom and fruit; its value dependent chiefly upon its matted roots for holding wet banks, and its ability to withstand considerable shade. Sold by plant collectors; easily propagated from cuttings.

[Ill.u.s.tration: PLATE XX.--Salix discolor.]

1. Leaf-buds.

2. Branch with sterile catkins.