DCHP-1 Online

liard [< Cdn F < F "black poplar" < OF liard gray] Hist. (except in place names)

• n. See 1955 quote and Balm of Gilead.

  See also: Balm of Gilead  

  • 1789  (1927)  The low land is covered with wood, such as . . . three kinds of willow, and the liard.
  • 1806  (1960)  . . . the Liard is the most stupendous I ever saw, as for any other wood or anything else. . . .
  • 1888  (1908)  . . . the alluvial portion has upon it (on the river of its name and elsewhere) the "Liard," a balsam poplar, sometimes called Balm of Giliad or rough bark poplar. . . .
  • 1955  The liard, a term . . . applicable only to Populus deltoides [eastern cottonwood], was evidently applied by the Canadian voyageurs to the balsam poplar (Populus balsamifera), which ranges from Labrador into northeastern British Columbia and down the Mackenzie, reaching its greatest size on the Peace and Liard Rivers.