Black Poplar Clone Bank

The native black poplar (Populus nigra) is a huge tree. It can be 30 metres high, with a 20 metre wide canopy, low sweeping branches and a pronounced lean. The leaf is triangular shaped, longer than it is wide, with blunt teeth. The favoured habitat of the black poplar is wet woodlands and it is often found along river banks. Many of John Constable's paintings reflect the image of the leaning black poplar.

Since 1850 virtually no native black poplars have been planted, particularly as they have been superseded by the faster growing hybrids. Consequently, most mature trees are old and dying, and if nothing is done we will lose them altogether This is why the native black poplar is included in both the Essex and Suffolk Biodiversity Action Plans.

In the winter of 1997-98 a team from the Dedham Vale and Stour Valley Project created a black poplar clone bank at Daws Hall. The clone bank has a collection of cuttings from some of the surviving trees in Essex and Suffolk. All of these cuttings have been taken from parent trees, and therefore each cutting has the same genetic make-up as its parent tree. These are known as 'clones'. The cuttings are enclosed by a high fence, which stops the deer nibbling the cuttings. The aim of the clone bank is to conserve the genetic material from each tree and thus provide a source of cuttings from which new trees can be grown and planted in the British countryside.

There is concern for the genetic variety of the clone bank cuttings, as there are very few existing native black poplars that are female. There is, therefore, rarely any natural regeneration from seeds, and it is likely that the surviving black poplars were planted as cuttings. Moreover, any remaining native poplars could be genetically identical clones. DNA testing has been used to determine the genetic variety of the cuttings in the clone bank.

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