Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XIII.djvu/733

 POPOCATAPETL bers ; in paved streets, where suckers cannot grow, it is a desirable tree, as it thrives well in spite of dust and smoke ; its suckering propen- sity makes it useful for planting near the sea- shore, to restrain the blowing sands. A vari- ety of this (var. canescem), known as the gray poplar, has smaller leaves and not so white un- derneath ; the wood is regarded as the most val- uable of any European poplar, and is used for floors and other inside work, and for making various small articles; as a fuel it is about equal to pine. The black poplar, P. nigra, grows wild in southern Europe and temperate Asia, to the height of 50 to 80 ft., with an ample head and numerous branches. The bark is ash- colored, and becomes deeply furrowed with age; the leaves, slightly notched upon their edges, are pale green, the petioles yellowish. The wood is soft, yellow, and fibrous, and is employed in making packing cases, and as it never splinters it is very useful for turning into bowls, trays, and such wares ; it is an in- different fuel. The bark is used in Russia in preparing morocco leather; the resin of the leaf buds is esteemed for healing properties. The Lombardy poplar, called P. dilatata and P. fastigiata, is believed to be a variety of the black poplar ; it is well known for the upward tendency of its branches, and for its spire-like outline. About half a century ago there was a mania for planting this tree in avenues, than which nothing could be more formal or in worse taste; fortunately the abundant insect enemies of the tree have caused most of these sombre avenues to disappear, but a single tree is still occasionally seen. In landscape garden- ing, where it is desirable to give variety to the outline of a group, a specimen of this may be be introduced with good effect. The trembling poplar or European aspen, P. tremula, is a rapidly growing tree of middle size, with a clear, straight trunk, and smooth bark, becom- ing gray and cracking with age ; the branches, which are few, become pendulous ; the young shoots are tough, pliant, and of a reddish color ; the flowers appear early ; leaves round- ish ovate or nearly orbicular and toothed, at first downy, but at length smooth on both sides. The wood is tender and white, and employed by turners, engravers, cabinet ma- kers, &c., and also used for burning into char- coal; its bark is employed for tanning; the leaves, either green or dry, are eaten readily by cattle and sheep. The tremulous character of the aspen (the older name of the tree is aspe, from A. S. cepse and asp) is recognized by many poets, and to u tremble like an aspen " has passed into a proverb. The tree is but little known in this country, it having no supe- riority to our native aspen. POPOCATEPETL (Aztec, " the smoking moun- tain"), a volcano about 45 m. S. S. E. of the city of Mexico, in lat. 19 K, Ion. 98 30' W., the largest of the six craters which succeed each other across the republic on the same parallel. It is an irregular cone of porphyritic POPPY 713 obsidian, with an elevation, according to the latest measurements, of 17,540 ft. above the sea, or about 1,800 ft. higher than Mont Blanc. To the height of nearly 13,000 ft. it is covered with dense forests, those in the upper regions being almost exclusively of pine ; for the last 3,000 ft. the sides lie beneath alternate layers of pumice and ashes, shrouded in eternal snow. The crater is about 3 m. in circumference, and has a depth of over 1,000 ft. Large quantities of sulphur are extracted from it, for which pur- pose several persons permanently reside within it, ascending and descending a large part of the way by ropes. The mountain is connected with Iztaccihuatl by a ridge, which at the pass of Ahualco is about 10,000 ft. above the sea. In 1519 Popocatepetl was in a state of extra- ordinary activity, and Cortes sent ten men un- der the leadership of Diego de Ordaz to climb to its summit. In 1522 Francisco Montafio reached the top, and was let down by ropes into the crater to a depth of about 450 ft. In 1827 the brothers Frederick and William Glen- nie ascended to the highest point, and calcu- lated the elevation of the volcano barometric- ally. More accurate calculations have since been made, particularly the last, by Sr. M. Ponce de Leon, in 1870. FOPPIG, Ednard, a German naturalist, born in Plauen, Saxony, July 16, 1798, died at Wah- ren, near Leipsic, Sept. 4, 1868. He was edu- cated in Leipsic and Grimma, and devoted himself from the first to the study of natural sciences. In early life he made scientific ex- plorations in Cuba, the United States, and South America. He was the first to ascend (1829) the volcanic mountain Antuco in Chili, and spent several years among the aborigines in the province of Maynas, who escorted him when he descended the Amazon on his jour- ney to Para. He was professor of zoology in the university of Leipsic from 1833 till his death, and founded there the celebrated zoolo- gical museum. His principal works are : Seise in Chile, Peru und avf dem Amazonenstrom (2 vols., Leipsic, 1835), and Nova Genera ac Species Plantarum (3 vols., 1835-'45, the first volume with contributions by Endlicher). POPPY (Ang. Sax. papig), the common name of plants of the genus papaver, the type of the order papaveracece, or poppy family. Some botanists have united the fumitory family (fumariacea), which have very irregular flow- ers, with the poppy family, for which there seems to be no necessity. As formerly re- stricted, the poppy family consists of herbs (rarely somewhat woody) with a milky or colored juice ; with alternate or radical, mostly divided leaves, without stipules ; regular flow- ers, with two, rarely three sepals, which fall as the flower expands, and twice or multiple the number of petals; stamens numerous, dis- tinct ; ovary one-celled, with parietal placentae, and forming a capsular fruit opening by pores or valves ; seeds albuminous with a small em- bryo. The larger part of the family belongs