Habit.=--A handsome tree, resembling _P. grandidentata_ more than any
other American poplar, but of far nobler proportions; 40-75 feet high
and 2-4 feet in diameter at the ground; growing much larger in England;
head large, spreading; round-topped, in spring enveloped in a dazzling
cloud of cotton white, which resolves itself later into two
conspicuously contrasting surfaces of dark green and silvery white.

=Bark.=--Light gray, smooth upon young trees, in old trees furrowed upon
the trunk.

=Winter Buds and Leaves.=--Buds not viscid, cottony. Leaves 1-4 inches
long, densely white-tomentose while expanding, when mature dark green
above and white-tomentose to glabrous beneath; outline ovate or deltoid,
3-5-lobed and toothed or simply toothed, teeth irregular; base
heart-shaped or truncate; apex acute to obtuse; leafstalk long, slender,
compressed; stipules soon falling.

=Inflorescence and Fruit.=--April to May. Sterile catkins 2-4 inches
long, cylindrical, fertile at first shorter,--stamens 6-16; anthers
purple: capsules 1/4 inch long, narrow-ovoid; seeds hairy.

=Horticultural Value.=--Hardy. Thrives even in very poor soils and in
exposed situations; grows rapidly in good soils; of distinctive value in
landscape gardening but not adapted for planting along streets and upon
lawns of limited area on account of its habit of throwing out numerous
suckers and its liability to damage from heavy winds. The sides of
country roads where the abele has been planted are sometimes obstructed
for a considerable distance by the thrifty shoots from underground.

=Salix discolor. Muhl.=

PUSSY WILLOW. GLAUCOUS WILLOW.

=Habitat and Range.=--Low, wet grounds; banks of streams, swamps, moist
hillsides.

Nova Scotia to Manitoba.

Maine,--abundant; common throughout the other New England states.

South to North Carolina; west to Illinois and Missouri.

=Habit.=--Mostly a tall shrub with several stems, but occasionally
assuming a tree-like habit, with a height of 15-20 feet and trunk
diameter of 5-10 inches; one tree reported at Laconia, N. H., 35 feet
high (F. W. Batchelder); branches few, stout, ascending, forming a very
open, hemispherical head.

=Bark.=--Trunk reddish-brown; branches dark-colored; branchlets light
green, orange-dotted.

=Winter Buds and Leaves.=--Buds ovate-conical; apex obtuse to acute.
Leaves simple, alternate, 2-4 inches long, smooth and bright green
above, smooth and whitish beneath when