Populus alba L.

White Poplar; Silver Poplar

Tree

Perennial

Vascular

White Poplar is an introduced deciduous tree in the Willow family (Salicaceae). It in native from northern Africa across central and southern Europe into central Asia. In Alabama it occurs throughout the state. White Poplar grows around old home sites, along fence rows, and in urban woodlots. It is a small to medium sized tree, growing from 15-60 feet in height. It is often thicket forming from root sprouts. The young stems are reddish-brown and densely pubescent with white hairs. Older stems and the trunk have grayish to blackish fissured bark. The leaves are alternate, petiolate, ovate to rounded in outline and 3-5 lobes. The margins are coarsely-toothed to wavy. The upper surface of the leaf is medium to bluish-green in color with scattered hairs and the lower surface of the leaf is pubescent with white hairs. The leaves tremble in the slightest breeze, showcasing the lower surface. White Poplar is dioecious with separate male and female plants. Flowers are produced in catkins in the early spring before the leaves. Male catkins are reddish and female catkins are greenish. Most of the plants in the United States are female clones. The fruit is a capsule that splits to release abundant small seeds with a tuft of cottony-white hairs. White Poplar is listed as an invasive species in many midwestern and northeastern states.—A. Diamond.

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Not Native

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