Populus ciliata Wall. ex Royle

Four varieties have been described, our material agrees with var. ciliata.

Trees to 20 m tall; bark gray; crown large and spreading. Branchlets brown, terete, pilose and glabrescent or tomentose. Buds ovoid, large, ca. 2 cm, usually glabrous, rarely downy, ± viscid. Petiole terete, 5-12 cm, downy; leaf blade ovate-cordate, 10-15 × 8-12 cm, abaxially grayish green, downy at least along veins, adaxially dull green, glabrous, base cordate or rounded, margin glandular crenate, densely ciliate, apex acute to acuminate. Male catkin ca. 6 cm; rachis glabrous. Female catkin to 22 cm; rachis glabrous or pubescent. Capsule glabrous or pilose, 4-valved; stipe 5-10 mm or capsule subsessile. Fl. May, fr. Jun. 2n = 38.

Large tree; bark on young stems greenish grey, smooth; brown longitudinally fissured on old stems. Bud sticky, bud scales brown shining. Leaves petiolate, petiole 5-13 cm long, hairy; lamina 7-18 x 6-13 cm, broadly ovate, crenate-serrulate, teeth minutely hairy, base cordate or rounded, 3-5 nerved, minutely pubescent on the lower surface, tip acute to acuminate. Male catkin 7.5-10.5 cm long, compact in flower. Male flower: Pedicel small, bract oblanceolate, hairy, disk obliquely cup-shaped, crenulate; stamens many, anthers olong, longer than filaments. Female catkin (in fruit) 15-30.5 cm, lax. Female flower: Disk embracing half the ovary, margin undulate, stigmas 3-4, very large, obcordate. Capsule 7.5-10.5 mm, orbicular, 3-4-valved (not warty); pedicel 2.5-10 mm long. Seed covered by long silky hairs.

Himalaya (Kashmir to Bhutan), N. Burma, S.W. China (Yunnan).

Xizang, Yunnan [Bhutan, India, Kashmir, N Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Sikkim].

Distribution: Pakistan (Chitral) eastwards to Kashmir, 4-10000 ft, along the Himalayas through India, Nepal, Sikkim, Bhutan, Myanmar.

2000- 3200 m

Fl. Per.: March-April.

Mountains, mixed woods, forests; 2200-3400 m.

The trees are sometimes, lopped for fodder.

P. rotundifolia Griff., Notul. 4: 382, 1854.