I’m not good at tree identification but I think this is most likely a Hybrid Black-poplar (Populus x Canadensis agg). It’s growing in a local park alongside the river – they like wet landscapes, and are frequently planted in parks and gardens but have also become naturalised in much of Britain.
What caught my attention with this tree was not the leaves or the bark or the shape but its seed fluff, which is so abundant at the moment that it’s covering the nearby path like snow in summer.
Poplar trees are dioecious, meaning there are separate male and female trees, and you can tell this one is a female because it’s producing the seeds, with all that fabulous white fluff attached.
Indeed. I have one growing opposite my kitchen window and I have been enjoying it since it was a sapling. It is now many metres tall and the Goldfinches love it in winter because it hangs on to a lot of its ‘keys’ which are a source of food for the birds.
That sounds delightful. I have also been enjoying the Goldfinches tinkling in my tree in recent months. 🙂
I think I have seen one of these trees with the same fluff in a riverside park near me. Will have to compare.
You might be lucky and have a real Black poplar, rather than a hybrid. I think you do get them in your area. Fingers crossed.
That is interesting – we don’t see Poplars here. We tend to have more Ash than anything else.
The Ash is a lovely tree, and one of the easier to identify, I find.