Abstract
IN common with many other groups of cultivated plants, the poplars include a number of hybrid forms, tntergrading to such an extent in their morphological characters as to create considerable difficulties in the recognition of the different sorts. These difficulties are enhanced by the variation of the foliage borne on the several kinds of shoot normally found on a tree. Nevertheless, the necessity for careful selection of material intended for identification has often been overlooked. The author of the work under review wisely limits his attention to the vigorous long shoots and to the short shoots that carry the bulk of the foliage. The leaf and stem characters are studied, and those of critical value selected for use in the preparation of a key to the species and hybrids cultivated in Britain. With a genus such as Populus, flowering before the leaves appear, it is advantageous for a key to be based on vegetative characters only, providing ease and accuracy of identification are not impaired. In a few cases, the relative times of foliation and sex are introduced to distinguish closely related hybrids; but on the whole the key is particularly clear and easy to use, and will be appreciated by all who have to deal with this critical group.
The Black Poplars and their Hybrids Cultivated in Britain
By G. S. Cansdale and Members of the Staff of the Imperial Forestry Institute. Pp. 52 + 1 plate. (Oxford: Imperial Forestry Institute, 1938.) 3s. 6d.
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MELVILLE, R. The Black Poplars and their Hybrids Cultivated in Britain. Nature 143, 832–833 (1939). https://doi.org/10.1038/143832a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/143832a0
