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.
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.
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.”
ASPENS
Populus tremuloides
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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.
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.
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.
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.
Chapter XV
THE LARCH
AMERICAN LARCH
Larix americana
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