Sunday 19 May
Black poplar (Populus nigra)

What’s the World’s Favourite Species?
Find out here.Black poplar fact file
- Description
- Biology
- Range
- Habitat
- Status
- Threats
- Conservation
- Find out more
- Glossary
- References
- Print factsheet
Black poplar description
| Kingdom | Plantae |
| Phylum | Anthophyta |
| Class | Magnoliopsida |
| Order | Salicales |
| Family | Salicaceae |
| Genus | Populus (1) |
Black poplar (Populus nigra), thought to be Britain's most endangered native timber tree (3), has a wide, rounded crown and dark grey fissured bark, with many swellings ('bosses') on the trunk (2). The deep green leaves are roughly triangular or oval in shape and become yellow in autumn (4). The flowers occur on three to five centimetres long catkins (2), and male and female flowers are produced on separate trees; male flowers have red anthers and female flowers have green stigmas (2). Old specimens often develop an obvious lean (5), and older branches are frequently pendulous (6).
- Size
- Height: up to 35 m (2)
Black poplar biology
This deciduous tree produces catkins in March and April, before the first leaves appear, and is pollinated by the wind (2). The fruits are green capsules that open up to reveal the very small seeds that have wispy hairs attached (4), which aid their dispersal in the wind (9). In order for this tree to regenerate, male and female trees must be fairly close together, and fertilised seeds must fall on bare soil that is still moist in June (5).
The timber, which is springy and light, is highly resistant to fire, and has been used for a variety of purposes, including floorboards, clogs and arrows that were found on the Elizabethan galleon, the Mary Rose (5).
TopBlack poplar range
The native subspecies of black poplar, Populus nigra betnifolia, is locally frequent in parts of lowland England and Wales, rarer in the north of England and Scotland, and rare in Ireland (6) (7), and also occurs in western Europe. At present the British population numbers just 2,000 to 3,000 trees (3). Elsewhere, black poplar is widely distributed but increasingly scarce throughout much of Europe reaching into central Asia and North Africa. It is generally absent from the far north of Europe (8).
TopBlack poplar habitat
The black poplar typically inhabits lowland floodplains (8) in river valleys (4) and needs open areas to allow germination (8). It also occurs in hedges and roadsides, and by ponds. Furthermore, it is sometimes planted in urban areas (6).
TopBlack poplar status
The black poplar is classified as Least Concern (LC) on the IUCN Red List (1).
TopBlack poplar threats
The preferred habitat of the black poplar has become very rare across Europe as floodplains have been modified and drained for agricultural purposes or succumbed to development pressures (10). Other threats include hybridisation with introduced poplars, which degrades the gene pool, competition with hybrids, and reductions in the groundwater table, which results in trees drying out and dying (8).
TopBlack poplar conservation
Plans to try to recreate the flood plain forest habitat favoured by black poplar, a habitat that is largely extinct in the UK, have been put forward (5).
TopFind out more
For more information on British plants:
-
The Botanical Society of the British Isles:
http://www.bsbi.org.uk
Authentication
Information authenticated by Tim Rich of the National Museums and Galleries of Wales.
TopGlossary
- Anther
- Part of the stamen (the male reproductive organ of a flower) that produces pollen. (See http://www.rbgkew.org.uk/ksheets/pdfs/flower.pdf for a fact sheet on flower structure)
- Deciduous
- A plant that sheds its leaves at the end of the growing season.
- Germination
- The beginning of growth, usually following a period of dormancy and in response to favourable conditions. For example, the sprouting of a seedling from a seed.
- Hybridisation
- Cross-breeding with a different species.
- Pollinated
- To transfer pollen grains from the stamen (male part of a flower) to the stigma (female part of a flower) of a flowering plant. This usually leads to fertilisation, the development of seeds and, eventually, a new plant.
- Stigma
- The receptive part of the female reproductive organ of a flower. Pollen germinates on the stigma. (See http://www.rbgkew.org.uk/ksheets/pdfs/flower.pdf for a fact sheet on flower structure).
References
-
IUCN Red List (March, 2011)
http://www.iucnredlist.org/ - Press, B. (1992) Field Guide to the trees of Britain and Europe. New Holland (Publishers) Ltd., London.
-
Cheshire Wildlife Trust (April 2002):
http://www.wildlifetrust.org.uk/cheshire/bpoplbap.htm - Coombes, A. J. (1992) Eyewitness handbooks, Trees. Dorling Kindersley, London.
- Mabey, R. (1996) Flora Britannica. Sinclair-Stevenson, London.
- Milne-Redhead, E. (1990) The BSBI Black poplar survey, 1973-1988. Watsonia18: 1-5.
- Hobson, D. D. (1993) Populus nigra L. in Ireland- an indigenous species? Irish Naturalist's Journal24: 244-247.
-
WWF. Freshwater species, black poplar: flagships for floodplain forests. (April 2002):
http://www.panda.org -
Tabbush, P. Dynamic processes in riparian ecosystems- implications for P. nigra gene conservation strategies. European forest genetic resources programme. (April 2002):
http://www.ipgri.cgiar.org/networks/euforgen/networks/poplars/Network_ouputs/pninsitu.htm -
Cagelli, L. & Lefevre, F. (1995) The conservation of Populus nigra L. and gene flow with cultivated poplars in Europe. Forest Genetics2 (3): 135-144.
http://www.tuzvo.sk/~paule/FG95/obsah23.htm
More »Related species
Close
Image credit
© Bob Gibbons / gettyimages.com
Getty Images
101 Bayham Street
London
NW1 0AG
United Kingdom
Tel: +44 (0) 800 376 7981
sales@gettyimages.com
http://www.gettyimages.com
Close
Link to this photo
Embed this ARKive thumbnail link by copying and pasting the code below.
Terms of Use - The displayed thumbnail may be used as a link from your website to ARKive's online content for private, scientific, conservation or educational purposes only. It may NOT be used within Apps.
Read more about
Close
MyARKive
MyARKive offers the scrapbook feature to signed-up members, allowing you to organize your favourite ARKive images and videos and share them with friends.
Close
Terms and Conditions of Use of Materials
Copyright in this website and materials contained on this website (Material) belongs to Wildscreen or its licensors.
Visitors to this website (End Users) are entitled to:
- view the contents of, and Material on, the website;
- download and retain copies of the Material on their personal systems in digital form in low resolution for their own personal use;
- teachers, lecturers and students may incorporate the Material in their educational material (including, but not limited to, their lesson plans, presentations, worksheets and projects) in hard copy and digital format for use within a registered educational establishment, provided that the integrity of the Material is maintained and that copyright ownership and authorship is appropriately acknowledged by the End User.
End Users shall not copy or otherwise extract, alter or manipulate Material other than as permitted in these Terms and Conditions of Use of Materials.
Additional use of flagged material
Green flagged material 
Certain Material on this website (Licence 4 Material) displays a green flag next to the Material and is available for not-for-profit conservation or educational use. This material may be used by End Users, who are individuals or organisations that are in our opinion not-for-profit, for their not-for-profit conservation or not-for-profit educational purposes. Low resolution, watermarked images may be copied from this website by such End Users for such purposes. If you require high resolution or non-watermarked versions of the Material, please contact Wildscreen with details of your proposed use.
Creative commons material
Certain Material on this website has been licensed to Wildscreen under a Creative Commons Licence. These images are clearly marked with the Creative Commons buttons and may be used by End Users only in the way allowed by the specific Creative Commons Licence under which they have been submitted. Please see http://creativecommons.org for details.
Any other use
Please contact the copyright owners directly (copyright and contact details are shown for each media item) to negotiate terms and conditions for any use of Material other than those expressly permitted above. Please note that many of the contributors to ARKive are commercial operators and may request a fee for such use.
Save as permitted above, no person or organisation is permitted to incorporate any copyright material from this website into any other work or publication in any format (this includes but is not limited to: websites, Apps, CDs, DVDs, intranets, extranets, signage, digital communications or on printed materials for external or other distribution). Use of the Material for promotional, administrative or for-profit purposes is not permitted.













