Balsam poplar

Leaves

Form

• Broadly ovate, tip long drawn-out
• Base usually rounded, sometimes wedge-shaped or slightly heart-shaped
• Warty glands may be present at the base
• Lower surface mostly hairless

Length

• 7–12 cm

Colour

• Upper surface dark green
• Lower surface silvery green, usually stained with brownish resin blotches

Margin

• Finely toothed with many short, rounded teeth that turn inward at their tips (margin sometimes partially smooth)

Petiole

• Hairy
• Round in cross-section
• 7–10 cm long
• Green

Buds

Form

• Terminal bud round or slightly angled
• Slender, long-pointed
• Very resinous, fragrant
• 5 scales
• Lateral leaf buds parallel to the twig
• Pollen flower buds stout with thickened scales
• Leaf scars small, triangular

Length

• Up to 25 mm

Colour

• Orange-brown

Margin

• Hairless

Twigs

Form

• Moderately stout, hairy
• Round to slightly angular in cross-section
• Lenticels large, sparse

Colour

• Bright reddish-brown, with age becoming dark orange then grey

Flowers

Length

• Pollen catkins 7–10 cm
• Seed catkins 6–8 cm

Structure

• Dioecious

Fruits

Form

• Mature seed catkins bearing many closely spaced capsules
• Capsules ovoid, tip short
• Hairless
• Splitting into 2 parts when mature

Length

• Mature seed catkins 10–13 cm
• Capsules 6–7 mm
• Seeds 2 mm

Bark

Form

• Smooth when young, with age separating into flat-topped ridges with irregular V-shaped furrows

Colour

• Greenish-brown when young becoming grey

Size

Height

• To 25 m

Diameter

• To 50 cm

Maximum age

• 70 years

Tree form

Forest-grown

Trunk

• Long, straight

Crown

• Narrow, somewhat columnar
• Open, with a few stout ascending branches

Root system

• Wide-spreading, with a few large roots, penetrating obliquely
  to the water table or a layer of hardened soil

Habitat

Site

• River valleys
• Moist, rich, low-lying ground
• Frequently planted in rural areas for shelterbelts and windbreaks

Associated species

• In pure stands or mixed with alders, willows, balsam fir, black spruce, white spruce, white birch, and other boreal species