Populus nigra italica DuRoi [Populus fastigiata Desf.] [Populus dilatata Ait.]
HABIT.—A tree 75-100 feet high, with a short, ridged and buttressed trunk 4-6 feet in diameter and a narrow, spire-like crown of erect branches.
LEAVES.—Alternate, simple, 2-4 inches long, and usually somewhat broader than long; broad-deltoid, abruptly acuminate; finely but bluntly crenate-serrate; thick and firm; dark green and shining above, lighter and more or less lustrous beneath; petioles slender, laterally compressed, 1-2 inches long.
FLOWERS.—April-May, before the leaves; dioecious; the staminate in sessile, dark red, cylindrical catkins about 3 inches long; the pistillate not present in the United States; calyx 0; corolla 0; stamens about 8, with white filaments and purple anthers.
FRUIT.—Not formed in the United States in the absence of pistillate flowers.
WINTER-BUDS.—Terminal bud conical, slightly angled, taper-pointed, glutinous, about 3/8 inch long; lateral buds smaller, appressed.
BARK.—Twigs glabrous, shining yellow, becoming gray; thick and gray-brown on old trunks, deeply and irregularly furrowed.
WOOD.—Light, soft, easily worked, not liable to splinter, weak, not durable, light red-brown, with thick, nearly white sapwood.
NOTES.—Thought to be a native of Afghanistan. Very rapid in growth. Short-lived. Spreads by means of suckers and fallen branches. Useful for ornamental purposes. Because of crowding the limbs die early, which remain and cause the tree to look unsightly.