White poplar
Introduced, naturalised · Up to 28 m

White poplar

Populus alba · Salicaceae

Also called abele

White poplar is a leaning tree, often with young shoots coming up from the roots around it. Its leaves have a thick white fuzz underneath that lasts all season.

Often mistaken for common whitebeam. How to tell them apart →
Know it byLeavesFive lobes on strong shoots, greyish green above, flattened stalk.BarkPale grey and smooth, black and cracked at the base when old.TwigsDumpy fuzzy buds pressed close to the shoot in a spiral.

Then check · ShapeBroad and leaning, with light, twiggy branches going every way, and young shoots rising from its roots up to 30 m out.

How to identify a white poplar

White poplar: leaveshjcjim, CC BY 4.0
Leaves

Five lobes on strong shoots, dark greyish green above and thick with white fuzz underneath, on a flattened stalk.

White poplar: barkLogan, CC BY 4.0
Bark

Pale grey and smooth, with lines of black diamond-shaped marks. Old trees are dark and cracked at the base.

Twigs

White fuzz covers the shoots all winter, and the dumpy buds too, pressed close to the shoot in a spiral.

Learn the white poplar in TreelyEvery part through the year, and a short round each day until you know it.Get Treely

Every part, in photographs

White poplar leaves: five lobes, thick white hairs beneath all seasonhjcjim, CC BY 4.0
LeavesFive lobes, thick white hairs beneath all season
White poplar bark: pale grey, with rows of black diamondsLogan, CC BY 4.0
BarkPale grey, with rows of black diamonds
White poplar shape: leaning, wayward, young shoots rising round it
ShapeLeaning, wayward, young shoots rising round it

When to look

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In leaf
Catkins

In leaf: April to October · Catkins: February to March

Every tree on the calendar

Where you’ll find it

Damp ground, often near water. It is planted in parks and on roadside verges, where it spreads by shoots from its roots. It is grown on the coast as a windbreak, since it stands salt spray and roots in sand. It is commonest near the coast, where it spreads into thickets, and less frequent inland.

What it’s mistaken for

White poplar: leaf outlineCommon whitebeam: leaf outlineWhite poplar or common whitebeam?Both flash white when the wind turns their leaves over.Leaf outline
  • Grey poplarGrey poplar is a cross of white poplar with aspen, and a big tree labelled white poplar is nearly always grey poplar. Leaf. White poplar: thick white fuzz, kept all season. Grey poplar: thin grey fuzz, gone from all but the newest.
  • AspenBoth are poplars with leaves on flattened stalks that turn in the least breeze. Leaf. White poplar: thick white fuzz right across. Aspen: smooth and green.
  • Black poplarBoth have knobbly twigs, and the leaves are what tell them apart. Leaf. White poplar: thick white fuzz right across. Black poplar: shiny green, like the top.

More willows and poplars

AspenPopulus tremulaBay willowSalix pentandraBlack poplarPopulus nigraLombardy poplarPopulus nigra 'Italica'Weeping willowSalix × sepulcralis 'Chrysocoma'White willowSalix alba
In the app

There’s more of the white poplar in Treely

  • Every part, through the yearLeaves, bark, buds, flowers and fruit, photographed in every season
  • Its lookalikes, side by sideThe checks that settle it, part by part
  • A short round each dayUntil you know the white poplar on sight, from any side
  • Name it from a photoA leaf, the bark or a flower, and Treely tells you which tree
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Every fact on this page is checked against the Collins Tree Guide, last in November 2026. Spotted something that looks wrong in front of a real tree? Tell us. How we check.

Photographs: johnt77 (CC0), hjcjim (CC BY 4.0), Logan (CC BY 4.0), steve_mcwilliam (CC0). With thanks to everyone who shares their photographs on iNaturalist and Wikimedia Commons.