Editing Populus alba (section)

== History ==
An [[Old English]] name ''abele'', now not used, is derived from the [[Latin]] ''albellus'', white, by way of [[Old French]] ''aubel'' and [[Low German]] name ''abeel''.<ref name=vedel />

[[Leuce (mythology)|Leuce/Leuka]], the "White Poplar"; Leuce or Leuka (Ancient Greek: Λεύκη) ("White" or specifically "White Poplar") was the most beautiful of the nymphs and an [[Oceanid]], a daughter of Oceanus. Hades fell in love with her and abducted her to the underworld. She lived out the span of her life in his realm, and when she died, the god sought consolation by creating a suitable memorial of their love: In the [[Elysium|Elysian Fields]], where the pious spend their afterlives, he brought forth a white tree into existence from her body, which became sacred for him from that moment on.  In Ancient Greco-Roman mythology, it is a symbol of a peaceful afterlife and a memory of those we love who have died, and in the [[language of flowers]], its meaning is "time".{{Citation needed|date=April 2025}}   Herakles crowned himself with this tree to celebrate his return from the underworld.

According to ancient Roman mythology, the white poplar was consecrated to [[Hercules]] because he destroyed [[Cacus]] in a cavern adjoining the [[Aventine Hill]], which was covered with these trees;  in the moment of his triumph, he bound his brows with a branch of white poplar as a token of his victory.  Persons offering sacrifices to Hercules were always crowned with branches of this tree, and all who had gloriously conquered their enemies in battle wore garlands of it, in imitation of Hercules. [[Homer]] in ''[[Iliad]]'' compares the fall of [[Simoisius]] when killed by [[Ajax the Great|Ajax]] to that of a poplar.  {{blockquote|So falls a poplar that on watery ground<br />
Raised high its head with stately branches crowned.}}

[[Ovid]] mentions that Paris had carved the name of Ænone on a poplar, as [[William Shakespeare|Shakespeare]] has [[Martext|Orlando]] carve the name of [[Martext|Rosalind]] upon the trees of the forest of [[Arden, Warwickshire|Arden]].

[[Virgil]] gives directions for the culture of this tree and [[Horace]] speaks of the white poplar as delighting to grow on the banks of rivers.<ref name=Keeler />