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Populus alba
Also called Abele, Silver Poplar, European White Poplar, Silver Leaf Poplar, Silverleaf Poplar, Silver Leaved Poplar, Abbey
White poplar (Populus alba) is a fast-growing deciduous tree native to southern and central Europe and central Asia, grown for its white-felted leaves and wood. It needs plenty of sun and moisture and is most at home in open, damp sites such as water meadows.
Populus alba, commonly called silver poplar, silverleaf poplar, white poplar, or abele, is a species of poplar, most closely related to the aspens (Populus sect. Populus). It is native to a region spanning from the Atlas Mountains of Africa, through most of South and Central Europe, into Central Asia; it has been introduced to many temperate, moist regions worldwide. It grows in moist sites, often by watersides, in regions with hot summers and cold to mild winters.
The wood is soft but close-grained and easy to carve, shrinking very little during seasoning. It has been used for sculpture from Europe to China and the US. The Penitent Magdalene by Donatello is one 15th-century example.
It was the most commonly used wood for panel paintings in Italy throughout the Middle Ages and Renaissance, until mostly replaced as a matrix by canvas from 1500 onwards. Most earlier Italian Renaissance paintings are painted on poplar panels, the Mona Lisa being but one example.
Balsam poplar · Himalayan Poplar · Eastern cottonwood · Bigtooth aspen · Tana River poplar · Black Poplar · Populus pruinosa · Simon poplar · Eurasian Aspen · Quaking aspen · Western Balsam Poplar · Yunnan poplar
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Populus alba 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.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
