Populus nigra L.

Family: SALICACEAE

Genus: Populus

Catalan common name: Poll. Pollancre.

Spanish common name: Álamo negro. Chopo. Chopo lombardo.

Province distribution: Alacant. Balearic Islands. Barcelona. Castelló. Girona. Lleida. Tarragona. València.

Distribution in the islands: Mallorca. Menorca.

General distribution (Phytogeography): Eurosiberian

Flowering time: JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec

Life-forms: Macrophanerophyte.

Habitats: Hedges. River forests. Cultivated fields, path and road sides, disturbed zones. Garden plants. Non-saline wetlands (intermittent watercourses, streams, artesian wells, ditches). Cultivated and sometime naturalizated.

Description: A deciduous tree that can reach up to 30 m in height, with a smooth, luminous grey bark, with the passing of time forms longitudinal wrinkles with blackish ribs, often with thick bumps that look like tumours. The shape of the crown in variable. Sturdy branches. The branchlets are darkish grey that take on greyish greenish hues, with lenticels, rounded or only slightly angular. Leaves line the green branchlets on both sides, rhomboid and more or less acuminate, 5-10 cm in length and only slightly less than this in width. Margins are translucent and finely crenate, often in the form of a saw that breaks to the apex in elongated teeth. Flowers are very small, unisexual and are grouped in hanging catkins, separated into female and male trees.