Poplar Tree Facts

'Beauty' (Ukraine), 'Emotion', 'Sorrow'.

It clones itself on long root systems.

The Neanderthals used Poplars to relieve toothache — fossils of jaws and loose teeth have been found packed with material from the tree. They also twisted the fibres to make strings.

Greek heroes wore poplar garlands in battle.

The Greek Sungod Helios' son, Phaethon, died by a lightning bolt, and Zeus turned the tearful female mourners into a cluster of Poplars.

Hercules tied its leaves into a victory wreath after defeating the giant, Cacus.

There are over 8000 Black Poplars in Great Britain, a large number of which are located in the Lea Valley.

The Black Poplar has been known since the Early Middle Ages.

Since Napoleonic times, Black Poplars have been frequently grown along roadways in Germany, as he had ordered when controlling parts of that country.

In legend, the underside of White Poplar leaves represented the sweat of Hercules as he crowned himself with a wreath from this tree when he brought Cerberus, the Hound of Hades, out of the Underworld.

The White Poplar is not native to the British Isles but was imported and now outnumbers the Black Poplar.