How can I tell if I've found one.....?

The native Black Poplar is an extremely difficult tree to properly identify. I've seen experts in nose-to-nose 'discussion' about the veracity of particular samples...

So many different hybrid poplars have been planted in Britain over the last two hundred years that it requires a special eye to tell them apart.

But here's how spot likely candidates...

1. The mature tree is massive. It can be up to 30 metres high, with a trunk up to 2 metres in diameter.
2. It will often grow close to water, in lowland areas
3. It will often lean sideways.
4. Lower branches arch downwards, sometimes reaching the ground
5. Its bark is heavily bossed, or fissured, looking black from a distance (hence the name). Actually, it is dark grey-brown, and covered in large, woody bosses or burrs.
6. The pale yellow twigs are sticky towards the tips. When young they are covered in a fine down (as are the leaf stalks). This doesn't happen in most hybrids.
7. In spring the male tree produces deep red catkins known as Devil's Fingers. Females produce lime green catkins and a white, downy seed in June.
8. The leaves are triangular, longer than they are wide, with the widest part below the middle. They usually have blunt 'teeth', and they lack the two tiny glands where the leaf joins the stalk - common in hybrids.

Another approach to identifying the native tree is to learn what's not the native tree.

1. A strong 'balsam' smell denotes the hybrid balsam poplar.
2. Hairless twigs and a tall, narrow shape denote the Lombardy poplar
3. If it's growing in northern, urban areas it's likely to be the Manchester poplar - a clone of the native
4. White and Grey poplars both have a different leaf shape to the Black Poplar, and often have white, downy leaf undersides

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