White poplar: characteristics and features

Despite the universal resentment of universal poplar fluff, botanists insist on the indispensable benefits of these unpretentious giants. First of all, it is important for cities and industrial settlements. But besides the fact that the tree performs the function of a powerful biofilter, it also has healing properties, is a good honey plant and a valuable building material. What is a a silvery variety of poplar, what is beneficial for growing, and where it can be applied - read about all this later in the article.

Other names

In botanical sources, the plant is designated by its official name. "white poplar" or the Latin analogue Pópulus álba.But in everyday life this poplar is called silvery, snow white, false white, which is based on the color of the bark.

Also in everyday life the plant is called "Abele", which is an abbreviation of the Latin word "albellus", meaning "white." In some literature, the names "poplar Bolle", "Bachofen poplar" and Latin synonyms are found: White Poplar, Silverleaf Poplar, Silver Poplar.

Taxonomy

This majestic plant is a fast-growing deciduous tree belonging to Poplar genus and the willow family. In a more detailed description of the white poplar taxon, the botanists indicate the department of the Flowering or Angiosperms of the Malpighiyevetna order.

Tree description

Characteristic features of the plant is its thick and high trunk of a light color, wide pyramidal or rounded crown. These are well-known signs by which the tree is easily recognized. Let us consider its description in more detail.

Barrel bark

Tree develops in height to 16-30 m. Compared with a wide crown that starts low from the ground, the trunk seems very short. Its maximum length is 1.5-2.5 m. At the base it is thick, and closer to the middle of the crown it branches into equivalent shoots.

Young saplings have smooth bark that rather resembles a smoky plaque of felt. Mature trees are distinguished by the longitudinally fissured surface of the trunk of a light silver or slightly greenish color. Old trees can be recognized by deep cracks and dark bark, which very often becomes black.

Leaves

In spring, small, leaf-shaped, egg-shaped buds appear on the branches of white poplar. And on the old branches they are bare and glossy, and on young ones they are covered with slight pubescence. From them comes the foliage of various forms. Some specimens may be deltoobraznye, others - oval, egg-shaped, multi-section.Combines all this extravaganza of forms dense structure, size and color sheet plates. From above they are dark green and smooth, and from the bottom - silver-felt. Closer to November foliage becomes bright yellow, it can turn brown in the rainy season. But the feature of the Abel is that the fall of the leaves begins with a green crown. On average, each leaf reaches up to 12 cm in length and up to 10 cm in width. It is attached to the branch by a short cylindrical stem.

Flowers

Depending on the climatic conditions, the tree blooms in the last weeks of April-early May. Often this period coincides with the blooming of foliage.

Among the inflorescences of the plant, which are earrings up to 8 cm long, botanists distinguish between male and female samples. The first ones are characterized by gray color and bright terracotta stamens, and the second - by green-gray coloring. Besides allergens are just trees with female flowers. After pollination, seeds are formed in them, which are fully ripe by summer.

Fruit

Achenes have the shape of a narrow cone. In the first phases of development, they are distinguished by a bright green color and a smooth structure. Moderately ripening, their color acquires light brown shades. In late summer, the seed pods become completely dark. They clearly see a pair of number of valves, from which small grains with specific long fibers at the base pour out.

Root system

Typical signs of the silver poplar root system are power and tallness. It develops depending on the physico-chemical characteristics of the soil. In wet areas, the fibrous roots are located in the surface layers, and in loamy and sandy areas, they deepen as far as possible, getting to moisture. At the bottom of the trunk often appears young shoots. It can also be found at a fairly considerable distance - 20 m from the mother tree.

Some features

In fact, silver poplar has many unique characteristics. Consider the most interesting of them.

Average height width

These trees are considered by many to be giants. The highest poplars reach a height of 60 meters. In our latitudes copies below 19 m are not found. The diameter of the old trunk can reach two meters in width, and the crown is drawn up to 35 m.

In urban settings, such features of white poplar are very much appreciated. Indeed, according to the doctor of biological sciences of the National Botanical Garden named after N.N. Grishko of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine Peter Bulakh, the plant develops quickly and easily adapts to sharp temperature changes and growing conditions. In addition, due to the upward-looking branches and the highly elongated crown, there is space saving and simultaneous purification of large volumes of air polluted by automobile exhaust. The scientist says that poplar foliage is able to absorb even metal-containing dust and is the leader in the list of trees according to the intensity of atmospheric filtration.

Growth rate

When you look at tall poplars, it seems that they grow to such heights for eternity. And, it turns out, the growth rate of silver and other varieties is recorded only in the first fifty years. Older trees slow down their development, and in 10–20 years they stop growing.

Having got on fertile grounds, the pyramidal silver poplar reaches its maximum height already at the age of 25. From the moment of landing it grows annually upwards by 1 m, and in breadth - by 40 cm.

Now you can imagine the speed with which metabolic processes occur in the fabric fibers of wood. It is very viable and can revive even when the trunk breaks during a hurricane.

Lifespan

Loggers often joke that trees live until they are allowed on firewood and planks. In this black humor, of course, there is some truth. But if you do not take into account the poplar felling, the lifespan of a poplar is measured in centuries. Today scientists say that many trees have survived. more than 400 years but There are also 600-year-old giants.

Growing conditions

Scientists are constantly talking about the good survival rate of the silver look. Let's see what is the most suitable culture for comfortable growing season.

Distribution and habitat

Today, Abel is known about poplar on all continents without exaggeration. The tree can be seen in the subtropical, Mediterranean, temperate continental and temperate climatic stripes. Its habitat is almost the entire territory of Eurasia, not including Scandinavia. Wild thickets are found near water bodies, in riverine forests, floodplains, oxbows and valleys. In the steppe zones it is comfortable for them to grow on lightly saline soils. And in rocky areas, these giants can climb a thousand-meter height above sea level.

Often, they coexist with a moisture-loving black variety of poplar, elm, alder, tamarisk, but can be placed alone.

Soil, moisture requirements

Fertile, moist, light substrates with good drainage and neutral acidity are an ideal place for unpretentious false white poplar. But in the absence of such a good, the plant can be content with slightly acid and alkaline soils,carry dry sandstones, heavy loams, and even will find vitality on silt and rubble.

The plant fully satisfies the nearby rivers and lakes or groundwater. Moreover, the root system does not suffer from prolonged flooding at all. But the drought tolerance of the tree is average.

Lighting Requirements

Perhaps this is the only categorical condition that is vital for sun-loving tree. It loves a lot of UV light and needs it. It can adapt to the penumbra, but in such conditions its growth will slow down. Although, judging by the size of the poplar, the shadow does not threaten him.

Frost resistance

Botanists celebrate high resistance of plants to low temperatures. It can easily overwinter at -30 ° C.

Breeding

To get a new plant seedling is very simple. In tropical regions, this process is possible by the seed method, and in temperate climatic zones, vegetative reproduction of silver poplar is more practiced.It is carried out by grafting or separation of root shoots. We will understand the subtleties in more detail.

If you like botanical experiments and are a fairly patient and optimistic person, then you can take a chance with sowing seeds. But just be ready that the best germination from them immediately after collection. It is then that you need to harvest peat pots and carry out sowing.

This is done in wet substrate. When sowing seeds outdoors, a bed is desirable, without waiting for shoots, to be covered with a thin layer of straw mulch. The material will retain moisture and protect the grain from weathering and leaching by rain.

When seedlings appear, provide them with good lighting. After all, in the shade they will be strongly drawn out, become thin and fragile. Such conditions can destroy sprouts in the first days after germination.

Experts advise to give preference to the seedling method using peat pots or tablets. In this case, you will not need to separate the young shoots into individual containers.But if this is not done, leaving the poplar shoots to be crowded on the garden, all efforts will be in vain. The idea will not succeed, because the root system of the tree does not like to compete for space, food, moisture and sun.

Of the vegetative breeding methods, grafting is the easiest. To obtain a new seedling, it is necessary to prepare planting material in March. This is usually done for mass landings, therefore, a whole bunch of apical branches are cut, after which they are tied up and put in a bouquet in a jar of water. By the way, liquids need up to half the capacity. Then everything is removed in the fridge until the landing. As a rule, it occurs in the second decade of April.

The process itself consists in planting blanks in such a way that two thirds of them are buried under the ground, and 1 kidney is surely left in the aerial part. A month later, there will be small roots. For this it is important to monitor the moisture in the soil.

Root separation - complex and troublesome procedure. Often, it ends in failure, due to damage to the young seedling during separation from the maternal root.

Decorative forms

Beautiful custom green and silver coloring of foliage and light bark of white poplar give it an unusual decoration. The tree is beautiful at all times of the year. That is why it is often used in landscape design to create compositions, framing alleys.

The tree fits beautifully into the architecture of water areas, can grow in combination with other plants that differ sharply in color and alone.

Among the most popular decorative forms of the silver variety are:

• globosa - is a medium-sized tree with densely arranged in the form of a wide oval branches and small foliage;
• weeping (pendula) - it is distinguished by a low trunk and branches drooping down;
• Richard (Richardii) - it is characterized by a yellow coloring of a glossy surface;
• snow white (var.nivea) - effectively looks due to the snow-white back of the leaves, which contrasts with the silver surface.

Application and properties

White poplar is not only a spectacular decoration of large parks and coastal areas, but also an excellent honey plant, a healing tool for people and animals, as well as valuable building material.Let's find out in detail what is the secret of the uniqueness of the plant.

Landscape quality

Under the conditions of megacities compactness of volume crown is appreciated. The plant is often used as a fire protection, strengthening coastal zones. This contributes to the high resistance of the culture to strong sea winds. But, unfortunately, this ability deteriorates after reaching the age of ten.

People have learned to take advantage of the aggressiveness of the roots of white poplar. That is why it can often be seen on sand dunes near water bodies.

Medicinal properties

If you take an entire silver poplar tree, its foliage, bast and outer layers of wood are considered edible. According to scientists, the leaf plates are valuable through containing vitamin C, dried bast can be added to flour for baking bread, and the bark relieves pain, inflammatory processes, has a disinfectant, diuretic, astringent and tonic effect.

Salicylates were found in the surface parts of the poplar stem, which are the active substance of many painkillers, including aspirin.

Pharmacology makes extensive use of the plant bark for the manufacture of a number of medical preparations for rheumatism, gout, arthritis, lumbar pain, dysfunction of the digestive tract, fever, anorexia, menstrual pain, general weakening of the body.

ethnoscience advises many recipes using poplar raw materials for the treatment of purulent non-healing wounds, abscesses, diseases of the oral cavity, hemorrhoids and frostbite.

Medonos

When the poplar is in bloom, bees flock to its branches from everywhere. The fact is that the tree gives good pollen bribes. Beekeepers note that silver poplar is only slightly inferior to linden by its honey-bearing characteristics. Pollen from males to females is spread by the wind.And even during the flowering period, many grumble, complaining about allergies caused by poplar fluff, but it is absolutely impossible to get rid of the tree. This echo and environmentalists, and the owners of bee colonies, and herbalists.

Wood use

This material is different softness, lightness and large layers. It is easy to work with him. Inside the wood is characterized by a clear yellow core. In old specimens it becomes brown and hard. Sapwood is less durable compared to it. It contains a lot of moisture that attracts fungi, insects. As a result, this part of the tree is often loose.

In the timber industry, white poplar is recycled for making paper, pulp, turning and joinery, boards, plywood, parquet, lumber, building sheathing, packaging materials.

In addition, the bark of the plant has found its application. It is widely used to produce yellow dye and tanned leather.

But the greatest value of white poplar is ability to purify the air and release large amounts of oxygen. These qualities are much stronger than temporary troubles associated with fluff flying everywhere.And only female copies spread it, and only male ones are introduced into the culture.