Two white poplars in a small Floridsdorf park were planted a year apart, in 1899 and 1900, and both are now well over four metres round.
Photo: Stefan.lefnaer (CC BY-SA 3.0)
White Poplar
Populus alba
White poplars rarely get the chance to grow old. We map 4 of them, in 4 cities.
The species spreads fast by root suckers and gets cleared as a nuisance long before it reaches any real size, which is why an old one stands out. Every leaf is covered underneath in white felt, so a gust turns the crown from green to silver. Lithuania's Vainiai Poplar is 6.85 metres round, still standing in a former manor park that has otherwise reverted to scrub. Warsaw's, nearly five metres round, stands in a small Rakowiec park with a playground and a pond. Krakow's, on Plac Emila Serkowskiego across the river in Podgorze, has been a natural monument since 1997. Amsterdam's is the odd one out: its own protection register admits it is no longer an impressive specimen and keeps it listed anyway, on the strength of being, most likely, the oldest living thing in its park.
Vienna
Krakow
Four and a half metres of trunk, on a square almost no visitor to Krakow crosses the river to see.
Warsaw
Nearly five metres round, in a park with a playground and a pond.
Photo: Panek (CC BY 3.0)
Vainiai
The manor is gone and its park has gone back to scrub, and the poplar is still standing in the middle of it: 6.85 metres around at chest height, 35.5 metres tall, among the largest white poplars re...
Photo: Vilensija (CC BY-SA 3.0)
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