THE WILLOWS AND POPLARS
Family Salicaceæ
Among the willows there are so many hybrids and varieties that their
classification is difficult even in summer when an analysis of the
flowers is possible. Most of the species in the Eastern States are
shrubs, and I have chosen the only large tree, the white willow, as a
representative species for study in winter. The genus _Populus_ also
belongs to this family, of which four species grow commonly in New
England.
[Sidenote: White Willow
_Salix alba_]
_A large tree, 50 to 80 feet high, with thick, rough bark and lithe
branches. The twigs are smooth and often yellow in color, and the small
alternate leaf-scars have three bundle-scars. The buds are pointed,
covered with a single scale and placed close against the stems. The
lateral buds are numerous and are usually larger than the terminal
buds._
The white willow is really a native of Europe, but for generations in
New England it has associated itself with country landscapes, and
there is scarcely a marshy meadow or a stream through a pasture with a
water course unmarked by a row of these trees. It seems wonderful that
the buds of willows should survive our cold Northern winters as they
do, for they are covered with a single scale of delicate texture, and
the little undeveloped leaves seem perilously near the cold. The soft
woolly catkins of some species,—“the pussy willows,”—which come before
the leaves, carry their own protection from cold weather, and even in
January, when a few warm days bring them out prematurely, they look
comfortable; but the little leaves with their single coverings never
come out before the right time, and they never appear to have suffered.
The wood is weak and soft, and little use is made of it. The value of
the twigs in basket making has been recognized since early Roman times,
Cato having ranked the _salictum_, or willow field, next in value to
the vineyard and the garden.
The generic name comes from the Celtic words _sal_, near, _lis_, water,
in allusion to its aquatic nature. It grows on all kinds of soil, and
is widely naturalized in the United States.
The weeping willow (_Salix babylonica_) is planted in gardens and may
be distinguished by its very slender, long drooping branches, which in
every limb suggest the sentiment of a hundred years ago. In allusion
to its place among other trees in landscape composition, Mrs. Van
Rensselaer says in “Art Out of Doors”:—
“As soon as we see a weeping willow it almost shouts out its contrast
to the simpler shapes of the trees which determine the general
character of all our landscapes or garden pictures. Yet we see it
everywhere, in every kind of situation.
“In all my wanderings I never once have seen it rightly placed; I never
once have seen it where it did not hurt the effect of its surroundings,
or, at least, if it stood apart from other trees, where some tree of
another species would not have looked far better.”
The black willow (_Salix nigra_) is the only one among our native
willows which grows to a good size, but even this is seldom more than
thirty feet high.
[Sidenote: Aspen; American Aspen
_Populus tremuloides_]
_A medium sized tree, 30 to 60 feet high, with a smooth, greenish
gray bark and tapering trunk. The twigs are slender. The buds are
long, sharp-pointed, with smooth, glossy scales covered with a gummy
substance. Alternate leaf-scars._
The aspen is more conspicuous in summer, when the constant motion of
its trembling leaves attracts our attention, than it is in winter,
although in some trees the smooth, olive-green bark of the trunk is
very attractive, particularly in contrast with the snow. There have
been endless allusions in literature to the European aspen, which
resembles our species. In a simile showing the activity of Penelope’s
maidens, Homer says:—
“Some ply the loom; their busy fingers move
Like poplar leaves when zephyr fans the grove.”
Again Spenser uses the same simile:—
“His hand did quake
And tremble like a leaf of aspen green.”
And Sir Walter Scott uses it in the same way to picture quick changes
of facial expression:—
“With every change his features played,
As aspens show the light and shade.”
Gerard, in a way scarcely flattering to the sex, compares the leaves
to women’s tongues, “which seldom cease wagging;” but Sir Walter Scott
restores the balance in the lines:—
“O woman! in our hours of ease
Uncertain, coy, and hard to please,
And variable as the shade
By the light quivering aspen made,
When pain and anguish wring the brow,
A ministering angel thou.”
[Illustration: ASPENS
_Populus tremuloides_
Page 180
]
The wood is close-grained, soft, and not strong, but it is made into
pulp and used in the manufacture of paper. The bark is brittle, with a
taste like quinine, but the inner bark is sweet, and in the spring it
is used as food by the Indians.
The generic name, _Populus_, is supposed to have come from the Latin
_arbor populi_ (the tree of the people), because rows of this tree
were always planted in public places about Rome. The specific name,
_tremuloides_, refers to the leaves which tremble continually on
account of their long, flattened, pliable leafstalks. The aspen grows
wild throughout the Northern United States and in the mountains of
Lower California and Mexico.
[Sidenote: Large-toothed Aspen
_Populus grandidentata_]
_A large tree, 60 to 80 feet high, with smooth greenish gray bark. The
buds are conical with somewhat downy scales and spread at right angles
from the stem. Slender twigs and alternate leaf-scars._
This tree is quite distinct from the American aspen, although it is
often confounded with it. It is found much less frequently than the
American aspen.
The wood is close-grained, soft, and light, and is used for making wood
pulp and wooden ware. In old times when it was the fashion for women
to wear high-heeled shoes this wood was used in making heels, as it was
light and best adapted to the purpose.
The specific name, _grandidentata_ (large toothed), refers to the
serrations of the leaf, which are much coarser than those of the
American aspen.
[Sidenote: Balm of Gilead; Balsam Poplar
_Populus balsamifera_]
_A tall tree, 40 to 70 feet high. The bark ts smooth and greenish
gray, often roughly ridged at the base of the trunk. Large buds with
overlapping scales covered with a sticky, yellow, glutinous substance.
Conspicuous alternate leaf-scars._
In the early spring, when the sun has melted the gummy resin which
covers the buds of the balm of Gilead, one can tell the tree
blind-folded by its sweet, pungent perfume, and even in winter the buds
have this same strong, medicinal, aromatic odor which serves as a means
of recognizing the tree.
Pallas says that when grouse and other birds of that family feed on
the buds of the balm of Gilead during the winter, their flesh becomes
imbued with the balsam flavor, which he seems to think adds to the
relish of the meat as food.
This tree grows very fast on almost any kind of soil, and its roots
extend to a great distance. Emerson found a balm of Gilead the roots of
which had passed under a house forty feet wide and thrown up suckers on
the other side.
The wood, like that of other poplars, is soft and light and is used in
making paper pulp, pails, and boxes.
The specific name refers to the balsam on the buds. The balm of Gilead
is found in the Western and Eastern States.
[Sidenote: Cottonwood; Necklace or Carolina Poplar
_Populus deltoides_]
_A large tree, 80 to 100 feet high. The bark is dark gray and more
broken in fissures than that of other poplars. The buds are glossy
and resinous, but have less balsam than those of the other species.
Alternate leaf-scars. Conspicuous five-angled pith in the small stems._
The cottonwood is larger than the other poplars, and in the Mississippi
Valley it sometimes grows to be one hundred and fifty feet high. The
climate of London must be particularly congenial to this tree, for
Emerson alludes to trees there which grew thirty and forty feet in only
seven years. In England it is called the black Italian poplar. The name
necklace poplar comes from the resemblance of the fruit of the catkins
to the beads of a necklace.
The wood is light and soft, and is used for pulp, for making packing
cases, and for fuel.
The specific name, _deltoides_, comes from the Greek, and alludes to
the deltoid or triangular shape of the leaves. The cottonwood grows
wild in Western New England, south to Florida and westward.
Beside these four poplars, the swamp cottonwood (_Populus
heterophylla_) is found growing wild at one place in Connecticut, and
the Lombardy and white poplars are both planted commonly from Europe.
The erect, rigid branches of the Lombardy poplar and its general
narrow, spire-like growth make the outline of this tree so distinctive
that it is easily recognized, even in winter, at a great distance. The
buds are gummy, and the bark of the trunk is deeply fissured. It is a
tall tree, often reaching one hundred and twenty feet high.
The white poplar may be distinguished by its buds, which are not
covered with sticky coating like those of the other members of this
genus, and by the recent shoots, which are downy. It is remarkable in
summer for the thick, white down on the under sides of the dark green
leaves, producing a most pleasing contrast in the foliage when the wind
blows.