Taxonomical Identification on the Present Status of Poplar Clones in India

Poplars have been successfully incorporated in agroforestry plantation. Wood of poplar plays an important role in the national economy of the country. As clonal material is bound to mix up while exchanging the stock during plantation and distribution by the planters and non-technical hands, there is loss of identity and subsequently resulting in to poor yield of wood for any specific purpose. Due to poor yield of wood, the national economy is also affected. To solve this problem studies were carried out based on morphological characters of leaf phyllotaxy, leaf stalk, petiole, leaf base, kinds of leaf, leaf texture and number, shape and colour of glands on the taxonomical features of useful clones of P. deltoides viz. WSL-56 [C-5], WSL-16 [C-8], ST-71 [C-18], ST-153 [C-36], WSL-12 [C-38], 112107 [C-92], WSL-9 [C-135], G-48 [C-194], D121 [C-195], and S7C15 [C-197]. Artificial key for identification of taxa has been developed for removal of confusion, duplication or materials with superfluous identity. Difficult botanical terms have been avoided in the key. The leaf characters in the key are intended to apply to mature foliage on the lower third of long shoots of medium vigour taken in the second half of the summer.