CHAP. CIII.

SAIACa'cEjE. 2>o'PULUS.

1639

of Leuke, given to this species by Dioscorides, is still used among the modern Greeks. (See SmithProd,., Sibth. FI. Grceca.) The great white Poplar, great Aspen, Dutch Beech; Peuplierblanc,Ypreau, Blanc de Hollande, Franc Picard, Fr.; Aubo, or Aoubero, in some provinces; weissePappel, Silber Pappel, weisse Aspe, Weissalber Baum, Ger. ; Abeelboom, Dutch.

Derivation. The specific name of White applies to the under surface of the leaves, which, whenquivering in the wind, give the tree a peculiarly white appearance. The English name of Abeleis derived from the Dutch name of the tree, Abeel; and this name is supposed by some to be takenfrom that of the city of Arbela, in the plains of Nineveh, near which, on the banks of the Tigrisand Euphrates, great numbers of these trees grew. It is said to be the same tree as that mentionedin the Bible as Abel-shittim, Chittim, Shittim-wood, and Kittim. The Dutch Beech is an oldname, given to this tree, as we are informed by Hartlib, in his Compleat Husbandman (1659), onaccount of ten thousand trees of it having been brought over all at once from Flanders, and plantedin the country places!; where the people, not knowing what they were, called them Dutch beechtrees. The French name of Ypr£au alludes to the tree being found in great abundance near thetown of Ypres.

Engravings. Eng. Bot., 1.1618. ; Ger. Em., 1488.; Bauh. Hist., 1. p. 160.; Matth. Valg., 1. p. 123.fig. ; Cam. Epit., 65. fig.; Dod. Petnpt, 835. fig.; Dalech. Hist., 86. fig. ; Hayne Abbild.,t. 202.;our Jig. 1507.: and the plate of this tree in our last Volume.

The Sexes. Both sexes are described in the English Flora, and arc not unfrequent in plantationsTrees of both are in the Horticultural Society’s Garden.

Spec. Char., $c. Leaves lobed and toothed ; some-what heart-shaped at the base; snow-white, anddensely downy beneath. Catkins of the femaleplant ovate. Stigmas 4. ( Smith Eng. FI.)

JRoot creeping, and producing numerous suckers.

Branches very white, and densely downy whenyoung. Leaves angular, and generally with threeprincipal lobes, variously and unequally toothed,blunt-pointed, veiny; dark green and smoothabove, and covered with a thick remarkably whitedown beneath. The leaves vary very much inform; and on young luxuriant branches they arealmost palmate. The tree is a native of mostparts of Europe, and is usually found in woods or thickets, in rather moistsoil. It grows to the height of 80 ft. or 90 ft., and flowers in March.

Varieties. These are numerous, but the principal one, P. (a.) canescens,being generally considered as a species, we shall first give it as such;and next enumerate the varieties which belong to it and to P. alba.

If 2. P. (a.) cane'scens Smith. The grey, or common white, Poplar.

Identification. Smith FI. Brit., p. 1080.; Eng. Bot., 1.1619.; Eng. FI., 4. p. 243.; "Willd. Sp. PI.,4. p. 802.; Michx. North Amer. Sylva, 2. p. 245. t. 100.

Synonymes. P. alba Mill. Diet., ed. 8., No. 1., Willd. Arb., 227. ; P . alba foliis mmoribus RatiSyn., 446., Ger. Em., 148. fig., Lob. Ic., 2. 193. fig.; P. ilba fblio minbre Bauh. Hist., v. 1. p. 2,160. fig.; P. No. 1634. /3 Hall. Hist., 2. 303.; Peuplier grisaille, Fr.

The Sexes. Only the female plant is expressly described in the English Flora. The plant in theHorticultural Society’s Garden is the male.

Engravings. Eng. Bot., t. 1619.; Michx. North Amer. Sylva, t. 100.; Hayne Abbild., t. 201.; N.Du Ham., 2. fig. 52., as P. alba ; and our Jig. 1508.

Spec. Char., fyc. Leaves roundish, deeply waved, toothed ; hoary and downybeneath. Catkins of the female plant cylindrical. Stigmas 8. { Smith inEng. FI.) It is essentially distinguished from P. alba, as Mr. Crowe firstdiscovered, by the stigmas, which are 8, spreading in two opposite di-rections. The bracteas of the fertile flowers are, also, more deeply and re-gularly cut. The branches are more upright and compact. The leaves arerounder, more conspicuously 3-ribbed, and less deeply or acutely lobed.They are downy beneath ; but the down is chiefly greyish, and not so whiteor cottony as in P. alba: in some instances the leaves are glabrous.{Smith.) Smith has described the root as creeping as extensively as that ofP. alba. P. canescens is found wild in “ wet ground in England, France, andGermany; sometimes also on open elevated spots, where the soil is loamy.”{Smith in Rees's Cycl.) It grows to about the same height as P. alba, andflowers in March. “ Mr. Crowe was very instrumental in bringing this treeinto notice in Norfolk. He observed it to be of slower growth than P.alba. The wood, though till lately it was hut little used or distinguished, ismuch firmer than that of any other British poplar; making as good floorsas the best Norway fir in appearance; having, moreover, the valuable pro-