I too pictured a Lombardy poplar when I saw the word "poplar", and was confused 'cause I haven't seen any fluff from them, and more confused when I remembered that they mostly propogate by ... uh, rhizomes? runners? something like that but I can never remember which is the right word -- a root that grows parallel to the surface of the ground at a very shallow depth and pops up a new tree every s far along its length.
Then I remembered that in other parts of the word "poplar" means tulip poplar by default; a tree I know from pictures but haven't been around much. I'm betting she meant tulip poplars.
I think I've heard the rooty things in question unfortunately described as "suckers", but they might be something else (the new stems from the roots perhaps?); "runners" sounds right too but I'd thought that applied more to strawberries etc.
"Tulip poplars" I'd never heard of, but when I did a search on google images, they came out looking a lot like "tulip trees", one of which we have in our back garden :D (yep, further investigation shows they're synonymous, how odd) Haven't seen "fluff" on that either- but perhaps it's too young to set seed yet.
*sigh* No, a tulip tree looks like a magnolia, at least in the local parlance, and I haven't a clue what a tulip poplar looks like. *quick Google image search* Jeez, no! Apparently the kind of poplar trees I mean are poplus canadensis, suck on that, you botanical anal-retentives! And they most assuredly do spew fluff all over hell's half acre. When they start going crazy out at my parents' house a little later in the year, I'll take Teh Norty Camrer out and get you some pictures. In bumper crop years, it looks like it's snowing cotton.
I have no idea what species the local generic maples are, but I'm sure they're not roughbark, sugar, or Japanese. Happy? :D
As Tomble opined, the stuff does actually manage to sprout seedlings in hermetically sealed flasks, as well as giving the pool filter, the eavestroughs, and the lawnmower byssinosis...
Ah -- "Carolina poplar", a species I hadn't even heard of by name (though odds are I've seen 'em someplace). So I got the "not Lombardy" half of my guess correct ...
Your description explains why one web page said it was known as "the cottonwood of the plains". I wonder whether I'd be allergic to fabric woven from thread spun from poplar fluff.
Re: Sycamores?!
Then I remembered that in other parts of the word "poplar" means tulip poplar by default; a tree I know from pictures but haven't been around much. I'm betting she meant tulip poplars.
Re: Sycamores?!
"Tulip poplars" I'd never heard of, but when I did a search on google images, they came out looking a lot like "tulip trees", one of which we have in our back garden :D (yep, further investigation shows they're synonymous, how odd)
Haven't seen "fluff" on that either- but perhaps it's too young to set seed yet.
Re: Sycamores?!
I have no idea what species the local generic maples are, but I'm sure they're not roughbark, sugar, or Japanese. Happy? :D
Hmm...
Anyway, if you want to see poplar fluff, go here:
http://www.wisarts.com/dzis/photos/seeds_gras_sm.jpg
As Tomble opined, the stuff does actually manage to sprout seedlings in hermetically sealed flasks, as well as giving the pool filter, the eavestroughs, and the lawnmower byssinosis...
Re: Sycamores?!
Your description explains why one web page said it was known as "the cottonwood of the plains". I wonder whether I'd be allergic to fabric woven from thread spun from poplar fluff.