There are several of the poplars that are not easily distinguished, and
the different and various accounts of them by botanists have increased
this confusion. Part of the difficulty arises from the diœcious
character of the poplar, causing in some instances the male and female
trees to be mistaken for different species. This is particularly
remarkable in the Balm of Gilead poplar. The female tree is smaller than
the male, with larger leaves, and annoys us by the abundance of cottony
down that covers the ground for a considerable space around it. The male
tree is taller and more spreading, and would hardly be recognized as the
same species.
The Black Poplar is often planted by roadsides with the Canada poplar,
and may be distinguished from it by the greater elegance of its
proportions, its smaller foliage, and, when in flower, by its reddish
and purple catkins. It is preferred to other species on account of an
inferior tendency to that suckering habit which is so disagreeable in
the poplar tribe. It seems to me that no persons who should see the
Canada poplar and the Black Poplar growing side by side, would hesitate
in giving preference to the latter, which is in almost every point a
more beautiful tree.
This species is called in Europe the Athenian Poplar. According to
Selby, “the classic appellation of Athenian Poplar led to the
supposition in England that this species is indigenous to Greece, and
that it derived its name from the city of Minerva. Several learned
botanists were misled by this name; but it was finally ascertained that
North America is its native country, and from its abundance in a
particular township called Athens it received the imposing title of
Athenian Poplar.”