Species: Populus alba L.

• a massive tree growing to a height of 30 - 40 m
• crown broadly ovate, branches thick
• bark smooth, white-gray to greenish-gray when young
• in the central part there are distinct rhombic lenticels
• at the base there is a coarse, longitudinally cracked, dark gray to blackish bork
• belongs to the Leuce section - white poplars and aspens

• arranged in a spiral, conical to ovate-conical
• leafy  buds 4 - 5 x 3 mm large, floral ones are larger
• shell scales are multiple, light brown dense white tomentose

• oval, olive green, dense white-tomentose
• on older twigs, there is numerous formation of brachyblasts

• leaves are simple, pinnately lobed

• broadly ovate on macroblasts, 6 - 10 x 6 - 11 cm in size, 3 to 5 lobed

• the edge is irregularly cut out

• elliptical to round on the beards, lobes are shallow, margin is irregularly toothed, 4 - 7 x 3 - 4 cm large
• young leaves are white tomentose on the top, later balding, dark green, glossy
• leaves are densely white to grey-tomentose underneath
• the stalk is 2-3 cm long
• the leaves themselves are stiff - leathery
• the leaves are generally quite variable in shape and signs

• dioecious tree species
• in catkin-like inflorescences
• bloom in III - IV before the leaves develop

• the fruit is a capsule, the capsules are arranged in lamb-like fruits
• ripens in May
• the seed is a fluffy achene
• reproduces only from seed !

• Southern and Central Europe
• in Slovakia, lowlands, flooded areas along larger rivers, floodplain forests
• ascends to about 500 m above the sea level.

• light-loving and thermophilic woody plants
• it requires mineral-rich, deep and moist soils with flowing groundwater
• it creates two ecotypes:
  1. floodplain – in floodplain forests around large rivers
  2. forest-steppe - growing on forest-steppes and sands, often only as a shrub

• wood is used to make cellulose
• soil protection, soil consolidation
• also as a park tree