Index / Search / Populus balsamifera
§1 Plant — species · Salicaceae
Populus balsamifera L.
vernacular balsam poplar
§2Habit & range
Habit and range
- Growth habit
- Tree
- Duration
- Perennial
- Group
- Dicot
- Family
- Salicaceae Mirb.
- Genus
- Populus
§2a
Native status, by region
- AK Alaska Native
- CAN Canada Native
- L48 Lower 48 States Native
§3Cultivation specs · USDA
Recorded by the USDA Plant Materials Program.
§3a
Tolerances
- Drought
- Low
- Shade
- High
- Moisture use
- High
- Fire
- High
- Salinity
- None
- Anaerobic
- Medium
- CaCO₃
- High
- Hedging
- None
§3b
Climate & soil
- Cold tolerance
- -79 °F minimum
- Frost-free days
- 75 min.
- Precipitation
- 6–70 in/yr
- pH range
- 4.5–7
- Root depth
- 30 in min.
- Fertility need
- Medium
- Soil texture
- coarse, medium, fine
§3c
Form & growth
- Growth form
- Single Stem
- Growth rate
- Rapid
- Lifespan
- Moderate
- Mature height
- 80 ft
- Height @ 20 y
- 35 ft
- Foliage texture
- Medium
- Foliage colour
- Yellow-Green
- Porosity (summer)
- Moderate
- Porosity (winter)
- Porous
- Flower colour
- Yellow
- Fruit colour
- Brown
- Fire resistant
- Yes
- N fixation
- None
- Toxicity
- None
§3d
Reproduction
- Bloom period
- Late Spring
- Seed abundance
- High
- Seed begins
- Spring
- Seed ends
- Summer
- Spread rate
- Moderate
- Stratify
- No
- Propagation
- seed, cuttings, bare root, container
§3e
Use & availability
- Commercial availability
- Routinely Available
- Nursery stock
- No
- Browse palatability
- Medium
- Graze palatability
- Low
- Palatable, human
- No
- Lumber
- Yes
- Fuelwood
- Low
- Christmas tree
- No
§4Montana distribution
Recorded in 32 of 56 Montana counties.
Native · 32 counties
- Beaverhead 30001
- Broadwater 30007
- Carbon 30009
- Chouteau 30015
- Deer Lodge 30023
- Flathead 30029
- Gallatin 30031
- Glacier 30035
- Golden Valley 30037
- Granite 30039
- Jefferson 30043
- Lake 30047
- Lewis and Clark 30049
- Lincoln 30053
- Madison 30057
- Meagher 30059
- Mineral 30061
- Missoula 30063
- Musselshell 30065
- Park 30067
- Petroleum 30069
- Phillips 30071
- Powell 30077
- Ravalli 30081
- Rosebud 30087
- Sanders 30089
- Silver Bow 30093
- Stillwater 30095
- Sweet Grass 30097
- Teton 30099
- Treasure 30103
- Yellowstone 30111
§5Sources & provenance
USDA PLANTS
Symbol, taxonomy, distribution, cultivation specs, native status. Public domain.
plants.usda.gov/POBA2 ↗GBIF Backbone
Canonical taxonomic identity, synonym resolution, cross-refs. CC0.
gbif.org/species/3040184 ↗Record version
Cached and built locally. Source version on this record:
usda-plants-mt-2026-05-25
fetched 2026-05-25T16:28:53Z