This is one of the rarest trees in Finland. It was originally brought from St. Petersburg over a century ago and is known to have been planted in Helsinki and Turku, at least. Only a single tree is known to still exist, in Helsinki. The young tree growing at Mustila is from a cutting from a branch of this tree, broken off in a storm.
Besides its value from a cultural-historical aspect, this is also an attractive tree. With rising pale branches, the crown displays a beautiful funnel shape. Leaves are triangular, swishing in the wind. It is a healthy tree, completely hardy on the south-west coast and perhaps further inland.
Originally from the city of Kharkiv in Ukraine, its history is unclear but many of its features would seem to indicate that it is a hybrid of black poplar (P. nigra), native in Europe and deep into Russian territory, with some other, pillar-shaped poplar