Genus Populus, L. (Aspen, Poplar)

Leaves - simple; alternate; edge large-toothed, with the hollows rounded. Outline - wide egg-shape. Apex - sharp-pointed. Base - squared, or slightly rounded. Leaf/Stem - long and slender, and flattened sidewise. Leaf - three to five inches long, smooth on both sides when mature; white, and covered thickly with silky wool when young. Ribs, whitish and distinct above. Bark - of the trunk, smooth, and of a soft, light greenish-gray; when old, becoming somewhat cracked. On the young branches the bark is dark. Found - in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, through the Northern States, along the Alleghany Mountains to North Carolina, and west to Wisconsin and Iowa. Rare at the South. common at the North. General Information - A tree forth to eight feet high, with open, crooked branches. Large quantities of the soft, white wood are ground into pulp for making paper. “In both this and the P. tremuloides, Michx., the leaves of young sprouts are often differently shaped and toothed, and much enlarged.” -- (Porter.) Poplar wood, like other soft woods, is not usually esteemed for durability’ but an old couplet, said to have been found inscribed on a poplar plank, teaches differently: “Though ‘heart of Oak’ be e’er so stout, Keep me dry, and I’ll see him out.”

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