White, Black or Grey?

A very striking tree on the gentle hill out of the village, as the land rises to the watershed between the Thames and Severn catchments. Just beyond it, at the crossroads right on the ridge, is a house called Colman's Elm Barn; on the opposite corner is an old country garage, being converted into a car-sales cathedral, called The Firs; just over the other side of the ridge is Six Ash Farm. Trees have presence; they get noticed; their names get rolled up into history

This one is an oddity. A long way from any house; not a native tree or a common hedgerow tree - certainly not elm, ash or fir. It's an attractive specimen that looms over you against the sky as you reach the brow of the hill, but who might have put it there or why, is hard to fathom. To be at its best it needs some breeze strong enough to move the leaves, and some sun to illuminate them, because the undersides are startlingly reflective of the light, so the whole canopy becomes a swirling, shifting mass of white and sage green. The pearl-grey background of the gathering storm clouds in the north was an added bonus this morning

It is a poplar, but I'm uncertain which one. The app on my phone favours white poplar (Populus alba), but also says it could just possibly be black poplar (P. nigra). White poplar also hybridizes with the European native aspen (P. tremula) to produce a tree called grey poplar! The latter has hybrid vigour and produces specimens that are bigger and stronger than either parent; this is certainly a large and vigorous tree. White poplar produces a lot of suckers from the roots, which makes it an invasive nuisance. You can see that going on in this picture, but I think it has a particularly bad reputation in parts of US and Australia - a black mark, you might say