White Poplar

Common name: White Poplar

Latin name: Populus alba

Family: Salicaceae

Origin: Europe, North Africa and Central Asia

Features:

The Populus genus, of uncertain etymology and different interpretations depending on the location, was already used by the ancient Romans. According to some authors, Populus stands for arbor populi or ‘people’s tree’, a name probably due to the incessant rustle of the leaves, reminiscent of the buzz of a crowd. The species, alba, refers to the leaves, white and hairy underneath. Even the bark that when young is smooth and greyish, in the intermediate phase acquires a whitish colour, with evident lenticels at ring disposal; when ripe it is blackish and rough only in the lower part of the keg.
Deciduous tree up to 30-35 m tall, with a rather long life, with erect stem, often sinuous or branched, with big main branches, wide and broadly rounded foliage.
The leaves are simple with a long petiole and on the plant there is an accentuated foliar heteromorphism. The leaves of the most vigorous branches and suckers are lobed with the toothed margin and are 5-10 cm long. Those of the twigs are oval or elliptical, without indentation and with barely visivle lobes. Both are at first white on both sides, then deep green on the top and hairy on the bottom side.
eThe The fruits, grouped in pendulous infructescences, are oval pedunculate capsules with a smooth surface that releases numerous seeds provided with long cottony hairs in the spring months.

Curiosity: from the plant we make different herbal products with beneficial effects.

Selection for the park: low deck plant; trunk circumference 20-25 cm; height 8-9 metres.