=Winter Buds and Leaves.=--Buds 1/8 inch long, mostly divergent, light chestnut, more or less pubescent, dusty-looking, ovate, acute. Leaves 3-5 inches long, two-thirds as wide, densely white-tomentose when opening, usually smooth on both sides when mature, dark green above, lighter beneath, bright yellow in autumn; outline roundish-ovate, coarsely and irregularly sinuate-toothed; teeth acutish; sinuses in shallow curves; apex acute; base truncate or slightly heart-shaped; leafstalks long, strongly flattened at right angles to the plane of the blade; stipules thread-like, soon falling. =Inflorescence.=--March to April. Sterile catkins 1-3 inches long, fertile at first about the same length, but gradually elongating; bracts cut into several lanceolate divisions, silky-hairy; stamens about 10; anthers red: ovaries short-stalked; stigmas two, 2-lobed, red. =Fruit.=--Fruiting catkins at length 3-6 inches long; capsule conical, acute, roughish-scurfy, hairy at tip: seeds numerous, hairy. =Horticultural Value.=--Hardy throughout New England; grows almost anywhere, but prefers moist, rich loam; grows rapidly and is safely transplanted, but is unsymmetrical, easily broken by the wind, and short-lived; seldom offered by nurserymen, but readily procured from northern collectors of native plants. Useful to grow for temporary effect with permanent trees, as it will fail by the time the desirable kinds are well established. Propagated from seed or cuttings. =Note.=--Points of difference between _P. tremuloides_ and _P. grandidentata_. These trees may be best distinguished in early spring by the color of the unfolding leaves. In the sunlight the head of _P. tremuloides_ appears yellowish-green, while that of _P. grandidentata_ is conspicuously cotton white. The leaves of _P. grandidentata_ are larger and more coarsely toothed, and the main branches go off usually at a broader angle. The buds of _P. grandidentata_ are mostly divergent, dusty-looking, dull; of _P. tremuloides_, mostly appressed, highly polished with a resinous lustre. [Illustration: PLATE XV.--Populus grandidentata.] 1. Branch with sterile catkins. 2. Sterile flower, back view, 3. Sterile flower, front view. 4. Branch with fertile catkins. 5. Bract of fertile flower. 6. Fertile flower, front view. 7. Fruiting branch with mature leaves. 8. Fruit. 9. Fruit. =Populus heterophylla, L.= POPLAR. SWAMP POPLAR. COTTONWOOD. =Habitat and Range.=--In or along swamps occasionally or often overflowed; rare, local, and erratically distributed. Connecticut,--frequent in the southern sections; Bozrah (J. N. Bishop); Guilford, in at least three wood-ponds (W. E. Dudley _in lit._), New Haven, and near Norwich (W. A. Setchell).