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P O P U L U S trem u la .
Aspen, or Trembling Poplar.
DIOECIA Polyandria.
,G en . Char. Male, Cal. the scales of a catkin, torn.
Cor. turbinate, oblique, entire. Stain. 8 or more.
Female, Cal. and Cor. like the male. Stigmas 4
or 8. Caps, superior, with 2 cells and 2 valves.
Seeds downy.
Spec. Char. Leaves'nearly orbicular, toothed, smooth
on both sides. Footstalks compressed. Young
branches hairy. Stigmas four, auricled at the base.
Syn. Populus tremula. Linn. Sp. PI. 1464. Sm. T l.
B rit. 1081. Huds. 434. With. 375. Hull. 221.
Relh. 390. Sibth. 126. Abbot. 215 .
P. Lybica. Rail Syn. 446. Ger. em. 1487.
A NATIVE of rather moist woods, which will however,
like several of its genus, grow in almost any situation, especially
where the soil is gravelly. The catkins come forth in
March, or early in April.
The roots throw out numerous’ shallow runners, which,
like the more luxuriant young shoots, are often clothed with
brown prominent hairs, but never hoary. The tree, when
full grown, is tall, smooth, with a round, spreading top.
Leaves smooth, roundish with a little point, wavy and bluntly
toothed, entire at the base, quivering with every breath of
wind (even to a proverb) by means of the long, vertically
flattened, footstalks. Stipulas bristle-shaped, hairy, to be
seen on the most luxuriant young sfioots only. Female
catkins 2 inches long, nearly cylindrical, hairv; their scales
palmate and jagged. Germen short and thick. Stigmas 4,
erect, linear, acute, with a pair of reflexed, ovate, crenate
appendages or auricles at their base, the whole when fresh
being of a rich crimson.
1 he.wood is white, soft, light, of a fine grain, leavers,
according to the observation of Linnaeus, feed on the bark in
preference to other food.
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