White poplar
Populus alba
Family · Salicaceae · Harmless
The tree that turns silver when wind flips its leaves, identifiable at five hundred metres on a breezy day. It follows the big inland rivers and suckers from the roots, forming whole cloned stands.
Streams and ditches · Fields and pasture · Town and roadside
Also known assilver poplar, abele
How to tell it
The leaf underside is covered in dense white felt that comes off on your fingers. Young leaves are lobed like a small plane tree's. Whitish bark with dark diamond-shaped marks, very characteristic.
What it is confused with
Black poplar
Populus nigra
The leaf underside decides instantly: white felt in white poplar, green in black poplar.
What it is for
Shade, windbreak and bank stabilisation. The wood is white and soft, good for boxes and bad for everything else.
Where it occurs
Each square is an area with recorded observations of this plant. The lighter background is the set of areas where any of the entries has been observed, and serves as a reference. Note what this is not: it is not where the plant lives, it is where people record it, so trails and towns always look fuller than the mountains. Data from GBIF.
Sources
Community
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