The message
from (WaltA) contains these words:
On Sun, 21 Aug 2005 13:36:33 +0100, Jaques d'Alltrades wrote:

Lombardy poplars are not a true variety of poplar, but are cultivated by
rooting cuttings from a branch of, IIRC, the black poplar, and the
cutting doesn't know it's not a branch any longer, and continues growing
straight up.

Oh! I never knew that, most interesting.
You mean to say that it isn't only us gardeners that get confused and
don't know what we are supposed to be doing :-)
That sounds my kind of tree ! I must have one !!

Sounds as though it might be labour intensive, I wonder how much they
cost,
,,,goes to search of suppliers

How many cuttings would you like? BTW, we felled two of them in Neasden
some years ago - they were very old pollards and rotting at the base,
and the householder's insurance company declined his business until they
were removed.

They were well over 200 ft in height, and when we came to take the
bottom part of the trunks down, we only just managed it going in from
two sides with a 36" arm on the power saw.

They tend to get overenthusiastic when set loose.

--
Rusty
Emus to: horrid dot squeak snailything zetnet point co full-stop uk
http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi/

We wrote:
Little bit of a breeze and it makes a noise, one side of the leaf
darker than tother.
I can't get a leaf off it (too high up) till they start to fall later.
Took some pics (with elchepo webcam) of its bark. Dont know if this is
enough to be diagnostic ? Not good pics, very dark in there so webcam
was on its limit and having trouble with contrast.. Three pics,one
about 25K and two at 55k here
http://www.freewebs.com/waltsretreat/Tree/index.html

There might be people who can identify more than a few trees from their
bark, but they're probably rather rare.

Yes, I thought it was a bit of a long shot. Sadly, that is the only
bit of the tree that I can reach ! Without use of hot air balloon !!
The green bits round it don't belong, some are ivy and others are from
surrounding beech.

That said, Mitchell (Trees of
Britain and Northern Europe) says that the aspen has smooth bark, so
presumably this is something else.

Or it might be an age thing ? Like with erm ash (?) smooth when young
but gnarled when old
This site
http://www.treesforlife.org.uk/tfl.aspen.html
shows a smooth bark pockmarked with "diamond-shaped lenticels" and if
you look close at the left stem in my first pic there are some
horizontal marks that could be the vestiges of the lenticells

Someone might be able to identify a photo of the whole tree. And have
you observed anything of the nature of the flowers and fruit?

No, till we started chatting bout mistletoe I had not given it much
thought, I'll certainly give it much more attention during the next 12
months !

Thanks for your thoughts anyhow.

In message , WaltA
writes

That said, Mitchell (Trees of
Britain and Northern Europe) says that the aspen has smooth bark, so
presumably this is something else.

Or it might be an age thing ? Like with erm ash (?) smooth when young
but gnarled when old
This site
http://www.treesforlife.org.uk/tfl.aspen.html
shows a smooth bark pockmarked with "diamond-shaped lenticels" and if
you look close at the left stem in my first pic there are some
horizontal marks that could be the vestiges of the lenticells

Yes, but Mitchell usually says if the bark changes with age. He writes
"older trees pale grey or brownish, shallowly ridged at base but
noticeably smooth through crown".
--
Stewart Robert Hinsley

On Tue, 23 Aug 2005 18:52:11 +0100, Stewart Robert Hinsley wrote:
That said, Mitchell (Trees of
Britain and Northern Europe) says that the aspen has smooth bark, so
presumably this is something else.

Or it might be an age thing ? Like with erm ash (?) smooth when young
but gnarled when old
This site
http://www.treesforlife.org.uk/tfl.aspen.html
shows a smooth bark pockmarked with "diamond-shaped lenticels" and if
you look close at the left stem in my first pic there are some
horizontal marks that could be the vestiges of the lenticells

Yes, but Mitchell usually says if the bark changes with age. He writes
"older trees pale grey or brownish, shallowly ridged at base but
noticeably smooth through crown".

Ok, yes, I see. I am understanding, thank you.
So, as you said, it must be something else (see below)

I don't have Mitchel. I have two by Herbert Edlin "The Tree Key" which
was not very helpful, the pics of the boles are so small as to be
verging on the worthless.
However, a much older one by him "Wayside and Woodland Trees"
(1904-1964) was stored away in the attic, I have now dug it out and
both the White Poplar and the Black Poplar pictures of the boles (Pl
117 & 118) are good candidates. The Black being the best fit at the
mo.
He does not show the bole of the Aspen, which would have been
unfortunate if you had not already told me what Mitchell said !

In the Tree Key he makes mention of the the White Poplar ",,also
increases by suckers" and shows a pic of a sucker coppice.
He does not say if the Black also suckers.
I have not seen any suckering from my tree.

Thanks for your help.

In message , WaltA
writes
On Tue, 23 Aug 2005 18:52:11 +0100, Stewart Robert Hinsley wrote:
That said, Mitchell (Trees of
Britain and Northern Europe) says that the aspen has smooth bark, so
presumably this is something else.

Or it might be an age thing ? Like with erm ash (?) smooth when young
but gnarled when old
This site
http://www.treesforlife.org.uk/tfl.aspen.html
shows a smooth bark pockmarked with "diamond-shaped lenticels" and if
you look close at the left stem in my first pic there are some
horizontal marks that could be the vestiges of the lenticells

Yes, but Mitchell usually says if the bark changes with age. He writes
"older trees pale grey or brownish, shallowly ridged at base but
noticeably smooth through crown".

Ok, yes, I see. I am understanding, thank you.
So, as you said, it must be something else (see below)

I don't have Mitchel. I have two by Herbert Edlin "The Tree Key" which
was not very helpful, the pics of the boles are so small as to be
verging on the worthless.
However, a much older one by him "Wayside and Woodland Trees"
(1904-1964) was stored away in the attic, I have now dug it out and
both the White Poplar and the Black Poplar pictures of the boles (Pl
117 & 118) are good candidates. The Black being the best fit at the
mo.
He does not show the bole of the Aspen, which would have been
unfortunate if you had not already told me what Mitchell said !

In the Tree Key he makes mention of the the White Poplar ",,also
increases by suckers" and shows a pic of a sucker coppice.
He does not say if the Black also suckers.
I have not seen any suckering from my tree.

Thanks for your help.


White Poplar (Populus alba) is easily recognised. (One of the few trees
easily recognisable from the other side of a field.) The underside of
the leaves is prominently white, more so than nearly any other tree
commonly found in the UK. (Silver Willow (Salix alba 'Sericea') might
rival it )

I've tried to think of other trees with similarly fissured bark, but all
that comes to mind are White and Crack Willows and Sweet Chestnut, and I
can't imagine anyone would mistake these for a Poplar.
--
Stewart Robert Hinsley