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Populus
Also called Cottonwood, Aspen, Aspen, Cottonwood, Poplar, Poplars, Cottonwoods, Poplars, Cottonwoods, And Aspens
Poplar (Populus) is a genus of over 60 fast-growing deciduous trees in the willow family, including aspens and cottonwoods. Most are large, quick-growing trees that root easily from cuttings, and they need space because their roots spread widely.
Populus is a genus of over 60 species of deciduous flowering plants in the family Salicaceae, native to temperate, subarctic, and montane regions of Eurasia, North America, and North Africa, and to the tropical highlands of East Africa. English names variously applied to different species include poplar ( ), aspen, and cottonwood.
The western balsam poplar (P. trichocarpa) was the first tree to have its full DNA code determined by DNA sequencing, in 2006.
Many poplars are grown as ornamental trees, with numerous cultivars used. They have the advantage of growing to a very large size at a rapid pace. Almost all poplars take root readily from cuttings or where broken branches lie on the ground (they also often have remarkable suckering abilities, and can form huge colonies from a single original tree, such as the famous Pando forest made of thousands of Populus tremuloides clones).
Trees with fastigiate (erect, columnar) branching are particularly popular, and are widely grown across Europe and southwest Asia. However, like willows, poplars have very vigorous and invasive root systems stretching up to 40 metres (130 ft) from the trees; planting close to houses or ceramic water pipes may result in damaged foundations and cracked walls and pipes due to their search for moisture.
Poplars of the cottonwood section are often wetlands or riparian trees. The aspens are among the most important boreal broadleaf trees.
Although the wood from Populus is known as poplar wood, a common high-quality hardwood "poplar" with a greenish colour is actually from an unrelated genus Liriodendron. Populus wood is a lighter, more porous material.
White Poplar · Balsam poplar · Himalayan Poplar · Eastern cottonwood · Bigtooth aspen · Tana River poplar · Black Poplar · Populus pruinosa · Simon poplar · Eurasian Aspen · Quaking aspen · Western Balsam Poplar
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Populus by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
