The Black Poplar

A cultural and ecological biography of the black poplar in Britain. Fiona cooper explores the tree's historic place in the landscape, and how it has played a role in folklore and in the work of poets such as William Cowper. She explains how the tree has been used through the centuries as timber and in medicine, and then addresses the question of its conservation. She investigates the reasons for the black poplar's decline, and focuses in particular on the important populations in the Vale of Ayl