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Populus × canescens
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Clade:	Angiosperms
Clade:	Eudicots
Clade:	Rosids
Order:	Malpighiales
Family:	Salicaceae
Genus:	Populus
Section:	Populus sect. Populus
Species:	P. × canescens
Binomial name
	Populus × canescens; (Aiton) Sm.
Synonyms
	Populus alba var. bachofenii (Wierzb. ex Rchb.) Wesm.; Populus alba var. canescens Aiton; Populus × bachofenii Wierzb. ex Rchb.; Populus × hybrida Rchb.;

Populus × canescens, the grey poplar, is a hybrid between Populus alba (white poplar) and P. tremula (common aspen). It is intermediate between its parents, with a thin grey downy coating on the leaves, which are much less deeply lobed than the leaves of P. alba. It is a very vigorous tree with marked hybrid vigour, reaching 40 metres (130 feet) tall and with a trunk diameter over 1.5 m (5 ft) – much larger than either of its parents. Most trees in cultivation are male, but female trees occur naturally and some of these are also propagated.^[2]

Taxonomy

In 1789 William Aiton described the grey poplar as a variety of Populus alba, P. alba var. canescens.^[3] In 1804, James Edward Smith raised it to a full species, P. canescens.^[1] He described differences between the leaves of the two taxa: P. alba has lobed leaves with snow-white ("niveus") undersides, whereas P. canescens has wavy-edged leaves with hoary ("incanus") undersides.^[4] Later authors sometimes noted the possibility that the grey poplar was a hybrid.^[5] It is now considered to be a hybrid between P. alba and P. tremula,^[6] so the scientific name is written with the hybrid symbol.

References

^ ^a ^b ^c "Populus × canescens", The Plant List, retrieved 2014-11-28
^ Rushforth, K. (1999), Trees of Britain and Europe, Collins, ISBN 0-00-220013-9
^ "Populus alba var. canescens", The Plant List, retrieved 2014-11-28
^ Smith, J.E. (1804), "Populus", Flora Britannica, Volume III, London: J. White, retrieved 2014-11-29, pp. 1079–1080
^ Phillips, Roger (1978), Trees in Britain Europe and North America, Pan Macmillan, p. 167, ISBN 0-330-25480-4
^ Stace, Clive (2010), New Flora of the British Isles (3rd ed.), Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, ISBN 978-0-521-70772-5