Plantae > Tracheophyta > Magnoliopsida > Malpighiales > Salicaceae > Populus > Populus balsamifera

Populus balsamifera (balsam poplar)

Synonyms: Populus acladesca; Populus balsamifera var. balsamifera; Populus longifolia; Populus tacanahaca var. lanceolata

Wikipedia Abstract

Populus balsamifera, commonly called balsam poplar, bam, bamtree, eastern balsam-poplar, hackmatack, tacamahac poplar, tacamahaca, is a tree species in the balsam poplar species group in the poplar genus, Populus. The genus name Populus is from the Latin for poplar, and the specific epithet balsamifera from Latin for "balsam-bearing". Other common names for the species include heartleaf balsam poplar, and Ontario balsam poplar. The black cottonwood, Populus trichocarpa, is sometimes considered a subspecies of P. balsamifera and may lend its common name to this species, although the black poplars and cottonwoods of Populus sect. Aigeiros are not closely related.
View Wikipedia Record: Populus balsamifera

Infraspecies

Populus balsamifera balsamifera (Balsam poplar)
Populus balsamifera f. balsamifera
Populus balsamifera trichocarpa (black cottonwood) (Attributes)
Populus balsamifera var. californica

Attributes

Air Quality Improvement [1]  None
Allergen Potential [1]  High
Carbon Capture [1]  Medium
Shade Percentage [1]  80 %
Temperature Reduction [1]  Medium-High
Wind Reduction [1]  Medium
Edible [2]  May be edible. See the Plants For A Future link below for details.
Flower Type [2]  Dioecious
Janka Hardness [3]  300 lbf (136 kgf) Very Soft
Leaf Type [2]  Deciduous
Pollinators [2]  Wind
Scent [2]  The leaf buds, as they swell in the spring, and the young leaves have a pleasing fragrance of balsam;
Specific Gravity [4]  0.34
Structure [2]  Tree
Usage [2]  An extract of the shoots can be used as a rooting hormone for all types of cuttings. It is extracted by soaking the chopped up shoots in cold water for a day; The resin obtained from the buds was used by various native North American Indian tribes to waterproof the seams on their canoes; The resin on the buds has been used as an insect repellent; The bark has been burnt to repel mosquitoes; A pioneer species, capable of invading cleared land and paving the way for other woodland trees; It is not very shade tolerant and so it is eventually out-competed by the woodland trees. Wood - soft, light, rather woolly in texture, without smell or taste, of low flammability, not durable, very resistant to abrasion; It weighs 23lb per cubic foot; The wood is also used as a fuel, it gives off a pleasant odour when burning;
Height [2]  98 feet (30 m)
Width [2]  26 feet (8 m)
Hardiness Zone Minimum [1]  USDA Zone: 3 Low Temperature: -40 F° (-40 C°) → -30 F° (-34.4 C°)
Hardiness Zone Maximum [1]  USDA Zone: 9 Low Temperature: 20 F° (-6.7 C°) → 30 F° (-1.1 C°)
Water Use [1]  High to Moderate
View Plants For A Future Record : Populus balsamifera

Protected Areas

Ecosystems

Predators

Consumers

Parasitized by 
Agrilus anxius (Bronze birch borer)[9]

Range Map

External References

USDA Plant Profile

NatureServe Explorer

Citations

Attributes / relations provided by
♦ 1i-Tree Species v. 4.0, developed by the USDA Forest Service's Northern Research Station and SUNY-ESF using the Horticopia, Inc. plant database.
♦ 2Plants For A Future licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License
♦ 3Wood Janka Hardness Scale/Chart J W Morlan's Unique Wood Gifts
♦ 4Forest Inventory and Analysis DB version 5.1, May 4, 2013, U.S. Forest Service
♦ 5HOSTS - a Database of the World's Lepidopteran Hostplants Gaden S. Robinson, Phillip R. Ackery, Ian J. Kitching, George W. Beccaloni AND Luis M. Hernández
♦ 6Making The Forest And Tundra Wildlife Connection
♦ 7Biological Records Centre Database of Insects and their Food Plants
♦ 8Ben-Dov, Y., Miller, D.R. & Gibson, G.A.P. ScaleNet 4 November 2009
♦ 9Jorrit H. Poelen, James D. Simons and Chris J. Mungall. (2014). Global Biotic Interactions: An open infrastructure to share and analyze species-interaction datasets. Ecological Informatics.
Abstract provided by DBpedia licensed under a Creative Commons License
Species taxanomy provided by GBIF Secretariat (2019). GBIF Backbone Taxonomy. Checklist dataset https://doi.org/10.15468/39omei accessed via GBIF.org on 2020-03-21; License: CC BY 4.0