BALSAM POPLAR

LARGE, SARPLY  POINTED DORMANT BUD OF BALSAM POPLAR...

...DITTO

BALSAM POPLAR SAPLING, WITH PROMINENT DORMANT BUDS

Monday, 7:45 AM.  26 degrees F at the ferry dock, 22 on the back porch.Wind NNE, calm with light gusts,  The sky is partly cloudy, some of it covered with dense black clouds.  The humidity is 60%, which is low for Bayfield, and reflects the diminished snow cover and lack of significant precipitation.
The barometer is falling, now at 30.37".
   The wind sled is running again. as the ice continues to weaken,  It took off with a considerable roar this morning.  The ferry will try to break ice to LaPoint midweek, and if successful will begin regular service.
   Yesterday afternoon I took Buddy to Old San Road for a run.  There is seldom a car on the road during the day and at this time of the year, and he can safely run up and down the roadsides and into the woods and fields on either side.  While walking along the road, I came across a sapling balsam poplar, Populus balsamifera, a native poplar tree.  It looks much like other sapling poplars and grows more or less in the same habitat, but its distinguishing winter characteristic are its very large, sharply pointed dormant buds.  It is a tree of the veryfar north and high elevations, and although it is not truly rare in our region I seldom see it.  A compound made from the fragrant dormant buds is used in the treatment of arthritis and other ailments, and the trees are said to exude a strong balsamic fragrance when they bloom.