The balsam poplar "P. balsamifera" (= "P. tacamahaca", "P. candicans") is a native of North America, where it grows on alluvial bottomlands in the northeastern United States and Canada. It grows to a height of 30 metres and has yellow-grey bark, thick and furrowed, and coloured blackish at the base of the trunk. The twigs are yellow-brown to brown, the buds covered with a layer of balsam resin. The flowers and fruit are very much like those of the white poplar ("P. alba") which is a relative of the aspens ("Populus" sect. "Populus").