19061 Fernald, A Willow from the Penobscot Valley 21 



A HANDSOME WILLOW OF THE PENOBSCOT VALLEY. 



M. L. Fernald. 



The large shrub which in the Penobseot Valley is usually su])posed 

 to be Salix sericea Marsh, has the young leaves eonsjiicuously reddish- 

 white beneath with long a])pressed lustrous and somewhat tangled 

 felt-like pubescence; the mature leaves 0-12 cm. long, 2-3.5 cm. broad, 

 velvety beneath with distinct subappressed hairs, and conspicuously 

 serrate-dentate with salient gland-tipped teeth. The semi-ovate very 

 glanduliferous stipules are small (4-5 nnn. long) and persistent; and 

 the slender pistillute ;iinents are, in anthesis 2-3.5 cm. long, in fruit 

 4-5.5 cm. long, and borne on distinctly elongating lateral leafy branch- 

 lets. 



Recently one of my students, IVlr. William G. Vinal, has called my 

 attention to certain peculiarities which distinguish the Penobscot Val- 

 ley shrub from the more southern Salix sericea, and an examination 

 of the material shows that in very many characteristics the two shrubs 

 are distinct. S. sericea, which occurs from southern Maine to North 

 Carolina and west to the (ireat r>akes and the Mississippi Basin, has 

 the leaves silky beneath with minute close hairs, in maturity 4 10 cm. 

 long, 1-2.5 cm. broad, closely glandular-serrulate with fine teeth. 

 The stipules, which are rarely developed, are lanceolate, 2-3 nnn. 

 long, and caducous, usually quite absent from the mature branches; 

 and the pistillate aments, borne on very short slightly bracteate pedun- 

 cles or subsessile upon the old wood, rarely become in fruit more than 

 2-3 cm. long. 



Besides these superficial characters which separate the two shrubs, 

 an examination of the pistillate aments shows other characters which 

 indicate that the shrub of the Penobscot Valley is specifically distinct 

 from Salix sericea. The latter species has the style minute or quite 

 wanting, the sericeous oblong round-tipped capsule raised on a pedicel 

 which about equals the short-hairy scale and about twice exceeds the 

 gland. In the shrub of central Maine the style is definite; and the 

 looser-hairy conical capsule, though pedicelled, is nearly equalled by 

 the very long hairs of the scale; and the gland is very minute. 



The shrub of central Maine is in the shape of its capsule and its 

 distinct stvle as closely related to the arctic-alpine Salix argyrocarpa 



