The other poplars

By Al Lowe
Contributor

Almost everyone knows the common poplar - it grows all over northern Ontario, and a whole lot of other places too. Populus tremuloides is found almost all over Canada. There are three other poplars which can be found here in north Ontario, though. We can take a brief look at them.
The Balsam Poplar is the second most common one in our area. It is also called Balm, Balm-of-Gilead, Black Poplar, Tacamahac, and in scientific terms, Populys balsamifera. It, too, is spread all over Canada from the Mackenzie delta to the Labrador.
Normally a full grown tree is about 60 feet high, and 1 to 2 in diameter, specimens up to 100 feet have been found. It is another very fast growing tree, and grows up from root suckers and seeds very rapidly. It establishes itself very quickly in burnt over areas, or in old pasture fields.
The leaves are very large, and have sort of an egg shape to them. From a distance, the leaves seem to have a brownish cast to them, due to rust coloured patches on many of them. Buds are very large and are covered with a sticky material. At times, these trees give off a most pleasant smell. Sometimes after a rain, or in the evening, you can get the very sweet smell of the balm. A tree of generally moist locations, it often makes dense thickets along watercourses or in the bottom land.
The third poplar, this one less widespread, is the Large-toothed Aspan, Populus grandidentata (which means the same thing in Latin). The 'teeth' referred to are the edges of the leaves, where, instead of fine toothed edges, we find three or four large teeth per inch. In size, it is very much like the Balm, and is often found growing with it. This poplar is an eastern species, the Rainy River District being just about the western limit of its range. Again, it grows from both suckers and seeds, so is quite often found in heavy groves.
The fourth native poplar is the Eastern Cottonwood, Populus deltoides. This is the largest of the group, averaging 80 to 100 feet high, and 3 feet or so in diameter. The largest one ever found was 175 feet high and about 11 feet in diameter. Some poplar! It grows in the southernmost part of Ontario, the Ottawa valley, and here on the Northwest.
Well, those are our native poplars, but there are others which have been introduced from abroad, or have been cross-bred in nurseries. One example is the Lombardy Poplar, those tall, narrow, columnar trees which are often planted along the edges of property. They originally came from Italy, and were cultivated for centuries by the Romans. The Silver Poplar, with a leaf much like a maple, but soft, white and furry on the underside, came from another part of Europe. Many hybrids are sold by nurseries for specimens, hedges and windbreaks.
All of the poplars are fast growing, almost all are very hardy, and all have both male and females trees. It is the females which produce the 'cotton', attached to the seed. This can get to be a big nuisance, so nurseries sell only male trees.
Poplars of all species are some of our most useful trees in Canada.