Populus x canescens

The grey poplar is in the willow or Salicaceae family and is a hybrid between white poplar (P. alba) and common aspen (P. tremula). The hybrid occurs naturally where both species are growing close to each other. It is intermediate between its parents, with a thin grey downy coating on the leaves, which are also much less deeply lobed than the leaves of P. alba.

• Leaves are alternate, simple, triangular-ovate, 6–12 cm long; margins are slightly undulated; dark green above and silvery gray and may be somewhat woolly underneath; not as lobed as P. alba, but often more coarsely toothed than P. tremula.
• Flowers are catkins; most trees under cultivation are male, having elongated and pendulous catkins, reddish-purple in color, 6–10 cm long; female catkins are green and pendulous (although quite rare).
• Bark is whitish sometimes with diamond-shaped fissures, becoming very rugged at the base as it ages.
• A pyramidal ('Pyramidalis') variety is popular as a landscaping tree in parks.