Populus ciliata | |
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Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Plantae |
Clade: | Tracheophytes |
Clade: | Angiosperms |
Clade: | Eudicots |
Clade: | Rosids |
Order: | Malpighiales |
Family: | Salicaceae |
Genus: | Populus |
Section: | Populus sect. Tacamahaca |
Species: | P. ciliata
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Binomial name | |
Populus ciliata Wall. ex Royle
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Populus ciliata, the Himalayan poplar, is a large deciduous tree with tall clean straight trunk and wide rounded crown.[2] The bark of the young trees is smooth greenish-grey and the bark of the old trees is dark brown with vertical cracks. Leaves are broadly ovate with serrulate-crenate and hairy margins.[2] Flowers are drooping raceme catkins appear before or with leaves.[2] Populus ciliata flowers are dioecious, individual flowers are either male or female. Perianth of male flowers is bell-shaped and female flowers are bluntly toothed. Their capsule encloses an average of 100–150 seeds, which are covered by long silky hair.[2]
Populus ciliata is natively distributed along the Himalayas through China, Pakistan, India (Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh), Nepal, Bhutan, and Myanmar.[1][3] Populus ciliata is exotic to Afghanistan, France, Iran, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, and the United States.[2]
Populus ciliata prefers moist cool places and grows in sandy, loamy, and clay soil.[2] It grows well in acidic or neutral soil conditions.[2] Shade inhibits the growth of P. ciliata.[2]
Populus ciliata is a dioecious tree which is pollinated by the wind.[2] The fruits grow in about 3 months after pollination.[2] Seed dispersal takes place from about the middle of June to the middle of July depending upon the climate.[2] It can reproduce through seed and vegetative means.[4]
The seeds weigh about 15 million/kg.[2] In spring, seeds disperse as soon as they mature as they have an extremely short period of viability and needs to be spread within a few days of maturing.[4] Fresh seeds exhibit high viability giving a germination rate of up to 75–90%.[2]
Populus ciliata is chopped for food and stored to be fed to livestock during the times of food shortage.[2]
Populus ciliata is used as fuel wood.[2]
Populus ciliata wood is used for making boxes for packing purposes, also for poles, trucks and barrow-trays, coaches, furniture and cross-beams.[2]
Bark is used to make tonic, stimulants and blood purifier. The paste of the bark, when mixed with the ash of cow dung, can be used to treat muscular swellings.[2]
Populus ciliata provides paper for writing, wrapping and printing.[2]
This tree can be used to control erosion as it easily establishes in shallow soils and exhibits a fast growth rate and produces numerous strong lateral roots with little taper.[2] Hence, extensive use of this tree is made in China, Japan, the USA and New Zealand to bind soil in erosion-prone areas.[2]
During raining season, the leaves of the tree become extensively colonized by leaf defoliators such as Pyragea cupreata and P. fulgurita.[2] In India record show that this tree has been a victim of the plant parasite known as Loranthus elatus.[2] Other pathogens that cause premature defoliation in this species include Bipolaris mydis, Pseudocercospora salicia and Phorma macrostoma.[2] Incidences[spelling?] of ganoderma root rot have also been reported in this species.[2]