When Do Poplar Flowers Bloom? Latest Blooming Period Guide
Poplar includes Euphrates poplar, white poplar, cottonwood, etc. It is a main tree species for timber forests, shelterbelts and roadside greening. The wood is mostly used for civil construction materials, furniture production, matchsticks, sawn timber, etc., and is also used for artificial boards and fiber. The leaves are good feed. Like Salix plants, poplar roots are quite aggressive. Let's take a look below at when poplar flowers bloom!
When Do Poplar Flowers Bloom?
Under normal conditions, poplar blooms at the end of March, but because temperatures vary from region to region, the blooming time also differs. Poplar has catkins, with male and female flowers on separate trees, no petals, a ring-shaped floral disc and bracts, the bract tips split, and many stamens. The male catkin is 10-14 cm long, the male bract has about 10 pointed tips and dense long hairs, the stamens number 6-12, and the anthers are red. The female catkin is 4-7 cm long, the bracts are sharply split, the edges have long hairs, the ovary is long oval, and the stigma is 2-lobed and pink.
Medicinal Value of Poplar Flowers
[Nature and Flavor] Bitter in taste, cold in nature, non-toxic.
[Meridian Tropism] Large intestine meridian.
[Functions] Clears heat and detoxifies, dries dampness and stops dysentery; mainly for bacillary dysentery and enteritis.
[Usage] Oral administration: decocted in water, 9-15 grams. External use: appropriate amount, hot compress.
[Caution] Use with caution in those with deficiency-cold of the spleen and stomach.
Classification of Common Poplar Varieties
1. Black poplar: Black poplar is a tree, 30 m tall, with a broad oval crown. The bark is dark gray and fissured when old. The branchlets are round, pale yellow, and hairless. The buds are long ovate, rich in sticky substance, reddish brown, and the flower bud tips curve outward. The blooming period is April-May, and the fruiting period is June. It grows naturally on riverbanks and river bends, rarely on coastal sand dunes, often forming belts or patches of forest. It is cold-resistant, light-loving, not tolerant of saline-alkali soil, and not tolerant of drought. It grows well on alluvial sandy soil and is distributed in northern China and North Asia, among other places.
2. Bigleaf poplar: Bigleaf poplar is a deciduous tree, over 20 m tall, with a diameter at breast height of 0.5 m. Its suitable growing area is the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River, and it mostly grows in low mountain plains with deep soil layers and abundant rainfall, usually existing in shrub form. The bark splits in flakes and is rough. The buds are conical, slightly gelatinous, and hairless. It likes abundant rainfall and rain in the same season as heat. The leaf shape of this species is the largest in the genus Populus, and the tip is usually acuminate, making it easy to identify.
3. White poplar: White poplar is the general name for plants in the genus Populus of the family Salicaceae. It is native to the Northern Hemisphere. Other Populus plants are distributed in more northern and higher places. It is famous for its leaves swaying in the breeze and its very straight trunk. Because it spreads quickly, it often grows into forests, and single specimens are rare, which is very beneficial to the natural landscape. The bark is gray-green and smooth, the branches are natural, and the green leaves are dense, turning bright yellow. It is dioecious, and in spring the catkins open before the leaves.
4. Cathay poplar: Cathay poplar is a commonly seen tree species in northern China. It is a deciduous tree in the genus Populus of the family Salicaceae, and can reach 30 m tall. The crown is broadly ovate, the bark is gray-green and smooth when young, and grayish white with shallow longitudinal cracks when old. The petiole is cylindrical and hairless. The capsule is ovate. It blooms from March to May and fruits from May to July. It is produced in Liaoning, North China, Northwest China, Sichuan and other provinces in China, and grows in valleys, riverbanks and shady mountain slopes.
5. Euphrates poplar: Euphrates poplar is a medium-sized natural deciduous tree, with a diameter of up to 1.5 m. The wood is fine and soft, and the leaves are broad and fragrant. It is drought-tolerant and flood-tolerant, with tenacious vitality, and is one of the rare tree species in nature. Euphrates poplar can reach 200 years of age, with a straight trunk, 10-15 m tall, rarely shrubby. Its leaves are peculiar: because it grows in extremely arid desert areas, to adapt to the dry environment, the leaves on young trees and tender branches are narrow and long like willow leaves, while the leaves on old branches of large trees are round and full like poplar leaves.