CHAP. CIII.
jalica'ceaj. po'pulus.
1651
oplar in the Horticultural Society’s Garden, which, in 1834, were 23 ft.igh, after being ten years planted. The leaves are remarkable for their finerich yellowish red tinge, when they first appear in spring; and for theirlarge size, deep indentations, and fine glaucous green during summer: onwhich account, this poplar deserves a place in every collection as an or-namental tree. We consider it as a variety of P. tremula, from which itis not more distinct than P. alba ncerifolia is from P. alba, or Miaeuropae'a grandi folia is from T. e. parvifolia. Plants, in the Londonnurseries, are 2s. 6d. each; at Bollvvyller, 3 francs; and at New York,35 cents.
Variety.
i P. (t.) g. 2 pendula Michx. Flor. Bor. Amer. is said to have pendu-lous branches. There is a tree bearing this name in the HorticulturalSociety’s Garden, but its branches are not pendulous.
i 6. f. GR.t'CA Ait. The Grecian, or Athenian, Poplar.
Identification. Ait. Hort. Kew., ed. 1., 3. p. 407., ed. 2., 5. p. 396. j Willd. Sp. PI., 4. p. 804. ; N. DuHam., 2. p. 185.
The Sexes. The female is in the London Horticultural Sbciety’s arboretum; and was, some years ago,in gardens at Bury St. Edmunds, and in the plantations of O. R. Oakes, Esq., at Newton, nearthat town. Willd., in his Sp. PI. , also mentions the male as the only one that he had seen living.It is doubtful whether the male is in Britain.
Engravings. N. Du Ham., 2. t. 54.; oxufig. 1512. j and the plate of this tree in our last Volume.
Spec. Char., $•(:. Branch round, glabrous. Petiole compressed. Disk ofleaf roundish-ovate, having a shallow sinus at the base, and terminating iiian acute point, serrated with equal teeth that are adpressed, glabrous, exceptbeing slightly ciliated on the edge. (Willd. Sp. PI.)
Wild in the islands of the Archipelago. (Ibid.)
Cultivated in Britain in 1779, by Hugh Duke ofNorthumberland. It flowers in March and April.
(Hort. Kew.) The species is not registered inSmith’s Prodromus of Sibthorp’s Flora Greece; sothat, though named P. grae'ca, and the Athenianpoplar, it does not appear to be wild in Greece;nor, notwithstanding the statement of Willdenow,in the Archipelago. According to the Nouv. DuHamel, it is stated by some to be a native of NorthAmerica, and more particularly of a township therenamed Athens. The circumstance of its havingbeen introduced by Hugh Duke of Northumber-land is favourable to this opinion; that noblemanhaving been a great importer of American trees.
It is a handsome, vigorous-growing tree, veryinteresting when in flower, from its numerousdarkish-coloured catkins, which have the plume-like character of thoseof P. tremula, P. trepida, and P. grandidentata. The leaves, in theirform, colour, and general aspect, resemble those of P. trepida, but arelonger. The tissue of the bark of young trees is of a coarsish texture;which, by rendering its component parts obvious, makes it an eligi-ble subject for study to young physiologists. The pith of the youngbranches, of about 1 in. in diameter, is very small in quantity, and green.The capsules are upon pedicels, and these and the rachis are hairy. It ispropagated by layers, or by grafting on some other species of poplar;more particularly on P. alba canescens. Bose states that he has seen graftsproduce shoots 8 ft. or 10 ft. long the first season. In the Gardener’sMagazine, vol. iii. p. 410., is an account of a number of trees bearing thename of Populus grae'ca, which were planted at Woodfield, in Monmouth-shire, which, after being planted ten years, averaged shoots of 3 ft. yearly.The writer had been induced to plant these trees by a paper on the subject,in the Memoirs of the Literary Society of Manchester, vol. v. Though differ-
5 P 3