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Vascular Plants of California
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Populus nigra
BLACK POPLAR, LOMBARDY POPLAR


Higher Taxonomy
Family: SalicaceaeView DescriptionDichotomous Key
Common Name: WILLOW FAMILY
Habit: Shrub, tree; dioecious (monoecious). Stem: trunk < 40 m; wood soft; bark smooth, bitter; buds scaly. Leaf: simple, alternate, deciduous; stipules generally present, deciduous or not, often large. Inflorescence: catkin [or various, or flowers 1]; each flower subtended by 1 bract. Flower: perianth modified into non-nectariferous, cup- or saucer-shaped structure or reduced to adaxial nectary (rarely also with abaxial nectary, then free or fused into shallow cup). Staminate Flower: stamens 2--many. Pistillate Flower: pistil 1, ovary superior to 1/2-inferior, chambers generally 2--4, placentas parietal, stigma lobes 2--4. Fruit: berry, drupe, or 2--4-valved capsule. Seed: often with basal tuft of hairs.
Genera In Family: 58 genera, 1210 species: widespread in tropics, northern temperate, arctic. Note: Now including many genera (e.g., Flacourtia, Idesia, Xylosma) formerly in Flacourtiaceae, at least in part because of presence on leaf margins in both families of salicoid teeth (vein extending to tooth tip). In California (and generally outside California), Populus pollinated by wind, Salix by insects, wind. Hybrids common; identification often difficult.
eFlora Treatment Author: John O. Sawyer, Jr., except as noted
Scientific Editor: Thomas J. Rosatti.
Genus: PopulusView DescriptionDichotomous Key


Common Name: COTTONWOOD
Habit: Tree. Stem: < 40 m; young bark smooth, pale yellow-green to gray; older bark furrowed, brown to gray; twigs with swellings below leaf scars; winter bud generally resinous, scales > 3. Leaf: juvenile, adult, late-season leaves may differ in size, shape, hairiness; generally glabrous; blade 3--11 cm, elliptic to deltate, veins pinnate or +- palmate, tip generally elongate. Inflorescence: catkin pendent, 3--8 cm; bract cut into narrow segments; flowers sessile; nectary a cup- or saucer-like disk. Flower: perianth modified into non-nectariferous, cup- or saucer-shaped structure. Staminate Flower: stamens 8--60. Pistillate Flower: style short, stigmas 2--3(4), large, scalloped to 2-lobed. Fruit: spheric to conic; valves 2--3(4), 3--12 mm.
Etymology: (Latin: name for plants of this genus)
Reference: Hamzeh et al. 2006 J Torrey Bot Soc 133:519--527
Unabridged Reference: Hamzeh & Dayanandan 2004 Amer J Bot 91:1398--1408
Populus nigra L.
NATURALIZED
Habit: Tree < 20 m; crown wide or slender. Stem: twigs yellow-brown, winter buds red-brown. Leaf: petiole 1/3--2/3 blade; blade 3--5 cm, deltate to rhomboid, glabrous, adaxially green, base +- truncate to tapered, tip acute, margin crenate to serrate.
Ecology: Disturbed places near settlements; Elevation: 600--1800 m. Bioregional Distribution: SnFrB, SCo, SNE, DMoj, expected elsewhere; Distribution Outside California: native to Europe. Flowering Time: Feb--May
Unabridged Synonyms: Populus nigra var. italica Du Roi
Unabridged Note: Plants with slender crowns are called Lombardy Poplar, but they all have been propagated from a single clone and therefore are not worthy of formal taxonomic recognition, so that the scientific name that has been applied to them (Populus nigra L. var. italica Du Roi) is to be treated as a synonym, as is Populus nigra L. var. nigra, which refers to plants with wide crowns that are called Black Poplar. Also reported for California are Populus ×inopina (Populus nigra × Populus fremontii), Populus ×canadensis (Populus nigra × Populus deltoides).
Jepson eFlora Author: John O. Sawyer, Jr.
Reference: Hamzeh et al. 2006 J Torrey Bot Soc 133:519--527
Unabridged Reference: Eckenwalder 1982 Madroño 29:67--78
Index of California Plant Names (ICPN; linked via the Jepson Online Interchange)

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Citation for this treatment: John O. Sawyer, Jr. 2012, Populus nigra, in Jepson Flora Project (eds.) Jepson eFlora, https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/eflora_display.php?tid=39499, accessed on April 18, 2024.

Citation for the whole project: Jepson Flora Project (eds.) 2024, Jepson eFlora, https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/, accessed on April 18, 2024.

No expert verified images found for Populus nigra.



Geographic subdivisions for Populus nigra:
SnFrB, SCo, SNE, DMoj, expected elsewhere
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map of distribution 1
(Note: any qualifiers in the taxon distribution description, such as 'northern', 'southern', 'adjacent' etc., are not reflected in the map above, and in some cases indication of a taxon in a subdivision is based on a single collection or author-verified occurence).





 

Data provided by the participants of the  Consortium of California Herbaria.
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CCH collections by month

Duplicates counted once; synonyms included.
Species do not include records of infraspecific taxa, if there are more than 1 infraspecific taxon in CA.
Blue line denotes eFlora flowering time (fruiting time in some monocot genera).