Tree Identification № 5: Poplar

The Poplar Fairy by Cecily Mary Barker

We don't have all that many Poplars in this area because we have more manicured gardens than wild areas, so I'm not an expert, but I do walk past one fine tree on my way to work, and at this time of year (April) it is particularly wonderful.

The first image is a Black Poplar - Populus nigra. Don't sneer that I have chosen a Flower Fairy image by Cecily Mary Barker. Her paintings of little children (I believe they were pupils at her sister's kindergarten school) are charming, but they show trees and flowers in accurate detail. This image shows the leaves and the fluffy seeds which means this is a female tree. I can't help feeling the fluff is why Poplars are not a popular tree. People don't like their gardens filled with fluff. It's untidy and it gets everywhere. I rather like it, but the fluff does make me sneeze.

Pressed leaves I keep in my favourite tree book 

Here are two leaves that I think are from a Black Poplar. I'm certain about the one of the right. We used to have a number of trees near the local primary school. But Poplars are very brittle trees and one of them threw out a huge branch right next to the school entrance. The local authority has a duty to remove trees (or prune them very hard) if it's a health & safety issue. 

The problem with Black Poplars is that there are not enough female trees in the wild, and you need both a male and a female to get new Poplars. There's a problem too with native trees breeding with hybrid trees and then you don't get a true Black Poplar. There's a lot more interesting detail about this here.

White Poplar - Populus alba

I remember where this White Poplar is. I used to love picking up the fallen leaves; the white down on the underside is wonderfully soft even when pressed. These leaves look quite unlike the leaves of the Black Poplar. In fact, you might be forgiven for thinking this is some sort of Maple leaf. 

But Maple shoots are opposite on the twig and Poplar shoots and buds are alternate (like most trees) so you can cross that off the list. Plus if you visit a White Poplar at the right time of year you should be able to see catkins. And if you know what to look for, the bark may also be a clue.

But the particular tree I walk past is a Western Balsam Poplar. I'm pretty sure.

Western Balsam Poplar - Populus trichocarpa

You might not think this is a super exciting tree, so why am I drawing it to your attention? Well, when the leaves are fresh and new it smells superb. At least it does to me. On a good day I can smell the tree from 100 paces away. And (if I hadn't noticed before) I can track the wind direction by where I can smell the tree. Usually (if the prevailing winds, er, prevail) I walk past the tree and then smell it. But sometimes I smell the tree and then walk past it. 

And this tree is a female. Female trees have big green catkins which develop white fluff in about May. Male trees (unfortunately I haven't seen one) have red catkins. I expect they are quite stunning.

Female Western Balsam Poplar

Female Western Balsam Poplar

Male Western Balsam Poplar (courtesy http://farm2.static.flickr.com)

When I say that the tree smells fabulous to me, it is because a friend of mine cannot smell it at all. So if you go for a walk and your family goes crazy for a wonderful fragrance somewhere out there in the wood - but you can't smell it - well, maybe you are like my friend. He can smell lots of other stuff, but not this tree.

Western Balsam Poplar

You can see from my photographs that the leaves of the Balsam Poplar are a not very like those of the Black Poplar but quite unlike those of the White Poplar. They are much more.... leaf shaped. You know, the style of leaf a child draws. No child draws a leaf like a White Poplar leaf. Or a Black Poplar leaf either. 

So it took me a while to make the connection. I had to see the catkins. Which meant I had to be walking past this tree at exactly the right time of year. 

If you are struggling with tree identification, it may be that you are looking at the wrong part of the tree. Or looking at the wrong time of year. Or both. And you can't find the flowers or the fruits (berries/nuts/acorns/winged seeds) that you need to help you. If, for example, you suddenly want to ID a tree in late autumn after the leaves have fallen... look on the grass/pavement under the tree. If there's nothing there, is there a hedge or a shrub that might be harbouring the leaves you are searching for?

Black Poplar Bark

No leaves? Well, can you identify the bark on the trunk? Does your tree have distinctive buds you can check with a tree book (or the many tree websites availably online)? Or, like the Western Balsam Poplar, does your tree have a distinctive smell? I can think of a number of trees which I can identify by a fragrance, but this is sometimes only possible when the leaves are new, or before the first frost.

Lombardy Poplar

We shouldn't forget that when most people think of a Poplar what they imagine is a Lombardy Poplar: the fastigiate (tall or columnar) tree Napoleon is popularly supposed to have planted on either side of all the roads in Europe to give shade to his army. Well, maybe he did, and maybe he didn't but no tree, not even a Lombardy Poplar grows enormously tall at the drop of a hat. So anything planted on Napoleon's orders probably didn't get tall enough to provide substantial shade for some time. By which time Napoleon was imprisoned on St Helena. However, there certainly are many many Lombardy Poplars alongside French roads. Swiss roads too. But as for useful shade? Well, it depends where the sun is in the sky.

Lombardy Poplar

My tree book tells me that almost all Lombardy Poplars are male. So I had a good hard stare at these two local trees. But sadly neither seems to have any catkins on it so I can't prove that one way or the other. I will have to look again next year. I will have to look at all the local Poplars again next year as none but the Balsam Poplar seem to have produced any catkins at all this time round.

Here’s what Wikipedia has to say about Poplars.

And… I can’t believe I wrote all this in 2016 and totally failed to post it.