Britain's most endangered native timber tree, with only about 7,000 wild trees and about 600 of them female
Black poplar — per the Woodland Trust.
Nature · Trees
Black poplar
Native · deciduous, to 30 m · one of Britain's rarest native trees · river floodplains and ditches
Populus nigra subsp. betulifolia — Salicaceae
The native black poplar is one of Britain's rarest timber trees, a big, burry, leaning tree of floodplains, ditches and damp fields in Shropshire, Cheshire, Somerset and East Anglia. The Forestry Commission, quoted by the Woodland Trust, calls it the most endangered native timber tree in Britain. Only about 7,000 wild trees remain, and only about 600 of them are female.
How to know it
How to spot them
- ▸Dark, deeply fissured bark thick with burrs and swellings, looking black
- ▸Heart-shaped shiny leaves with long tips, faintly balsam-scented
- ▸Knobbly twigs on older trees; buds pressed close and spiralling
- ▸Red male catkins ("Devil's fingers") and yellow-green female catkins on separate trees, opening before the leaves
- ▸Cotton-like seeds in late summer; often leaning and growing in isolation
How to know it
A great burry-barked poplar of Shropshire, Cheshire and Somerset floodplains that leans and grows alone in damp fields
Black poplar.
Its fallen red male catkins are called Devil's fingers and bring bad luck if picked up
Black poplar.
In Greek myth, Phaethon's grieving sisters were turned into this tree
Black poplar.
Its soft, almost white, fire-resistant wood once made cart wheels, wagon bottoms and floorboards
Black poplar.
Native Populus nigra subsp. betulifolia; wild trees seldom regenerate because pollen comes mostly from planted hybrids
Black poplar.
Quick-fire facts
- •Woodland Trust: only around 7,000 wild black poplars grow in Britain and only around 600 are female
- •The Forestry Commission calls it the most endangered native timber tree in Britain
- •It is dioecious: male and female catkins on separate trees, so scattered survivors rarely pollinate each other
- •Cultivated and hybrid poplars pollinate the females, so true wild black poplars do not regenerate
- •Most prevalent in Shropshire, Cheshire, Somerset and East Anglia, in boggy conditions by ditches and floodplains
- •Trees can live about 200 years and reach 30 m
- •Caterpillars of hornet, wood leopard, poplar hawk and figure of eight moths feed on it
- •The wood is naturally fire-resistant and shock-resistant, so was used for floorboards in the days of paraffin lamps
- •Lookalike: white poplar has rounded, lobed, white-backed leaves
Drill it — 7 cards
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Sources
- Woodland Trust — Black poplar (Populus nigra subsp. betulifolia)