POPULUS canescens

'Gray poplar'. A medium-sized to large, suckering tree sometimes forming thickets. Similar to P.alba, somewhat later than P.alba, young shoots gray! Mature specimens develop an attractive creamy-grey trunk. Leaves variable in shape, rounded or deltoid, dentate and slightly toothed, more or less grey tomentose beneath. One of the best poplars for chalk soils, giving attractive yellow and sometimes red autumn colour. The male catkins in late winter are most decorative, being woolly and crimson up to 10cm long.(5)