Populus afghanica (Aitch. & Hamsl.) Schneid.

Meikle (l.c.) has treated this taxon as a variety of P. nigra L. It is widely cultivated as an ornamental tree.

Trees medium sized; bark grayish, darker at base of trunk; crown wide. Branchlets yellowish brown or light yellow, slightly angled, glabrous. Leaves on proximal part of short branchlets with petioles terete; leaf blade varying from obovate or ovate at base of branchlet through orbicular-ovate to deltoid-orbicular or compressed orbicular near apex, from 2-3 cm near base of branchlet to 6-7 cm at apex, both surfaces glabrous, base cuneate to broadly cuneate, rounded, or truncate, margin obtusely crenate-serrate, slightly translucent, apex acuminate or shortly acuminate. Sprouts with leaf blade rhombic-ovate or obovate, base cuneate. Male catkin ca. 4 cm. Female catkin 5-6 cm, elongated in fruit; rachis glabrous or tomentose. Female flower: style short; stigmas 2. Capsule 5-6 mm, 2-valved; stipe 4-5 mm. Fl. Apr-May, fr. Jun.

Tree up to 30 m tall, all parts glabrous, terminal branches ascending, slender. Trunk and main branches covered with conspicuous white bark. Buds small, ovoid. Petiole (1.5)-2-7 cm long. Lamina ovate or obovate at base of branchlet to orbicular-ovate to deltoid-orbicular near apex, 2-3 x 3 cm near base to 6-7 x 5-7.5 cm at apex, base rounded or cuneate, shallowly serrate to almost entire margins, tip acuminate, prominently and finely reticulate-veined on both sides. Catkins appearing with leaves, male catkin c. 4 cm; female catkin 5-7 cm, elongated in fruit, axis glabrous to pubescent. Pedicel 1.5-2 mm. Bracts ovate, fimbriate, glabrous. Perianth of the female flower cupuliform. Ovary bicarpellate, ovate, glabrous. Stigmas 2, sessile, broad, obcordate. Capsule 5-6 mm, 2-valved.

S Xinjiang [Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan].

Distribution: Pakistan (Kurram, S. Waziristan, Quetta, Kalat); Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kirgyzstan, Kazakistan, N. Africa and eastern Mediterranean region (Meikle, Fl. Cyprus 2: 1490. 1985).

Fl. Per.: April-May.

Along river valleys; 1400-2800 m.

P. nigra L. var. afghanica Aitch. & Hemsl. in J. Linn. Soc. Bot. 18: 96. 1880.