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Handbook oj Xature-Studi/ 



The willow pussies. The stami- 

 nate blossoms of the willow. 



Photo by Verne Morton. 



the pistils of another is a story which the bees 

 can best tell. The willow flowers give the bees 

 almost their earliest spring feast and, when they 

 are in blossom, the happy hum of the bees 

 working in them can be heard for some distance 

 from the trees. The pollen gives them bee 

 bread for their early brood, and they get their 

 honey supply from the nectar which is pro- 

 duced in little jug-shaped glands, at the base 

 of each pollen-bearing flow r er on the "pussy" 

 catkin, and in a long pocket at the base of each 

 flower on the pistillate catkin. So they pass 

 back and forth, carrying their pollen loads to 

 fertilize the stigmas on trees where there is no 

 pollen. It has been asserted that the pussies, 

 or pollen-bearing flowers, yield no nectar but 

 give only pollen, so that the bee is obliged to 

 seek both trees in order to secure a diet of 

 "balanced ration;" but the person who made 

 this statement had never taken the pains to look 

 at the tiny jugs over-flowing with nectar found 

 at their bases. 



In June the willow seed is ripe. The catkin 

 then is made up of tiny pods, which open like 

 milkweed pods and are filled with seed equipped 

 with balloons. When these fuzzy seeds are 

 being set free people say that the willows "shed 

 cotton." 



Although the seed of the willow is produced 

 .in abundance, it is hardly needed for preserving 

 the species. Twigs which we place in water to 

 develop flowers will also put forth roots; even 

 if the tw r igs are placed in water wrong side up, 

 rootlets will form. A twig lying flat on moist 

 soil will push out rootlets along its entire length 

 as though it were a root; and shoots will grow 

 from the buds on its upper side. This habit of 

 the willows and the fact that the roots are long, 

 strong and fibrous make these trees of great use 

 as soil binders. There is nothing better than a 

 thick hedge of willows to hold streams to their 

 proper channels during floods; the roots reach 

 out in all directions, interlacing themselves in 

 great masses, and thus hold the soil of the banks 

 in place. The twigs of several of the species, 

 notably the crack and sand-bar willows, are 

 broken off easily by the wind and carried off 

 down stream, and where they lodge, they take 

 root; thus, many streams are bordered by self- 

 planted willow hedges. 



The willow foliage is fine and makes a 

 beautiful, soft mass with delicate shadows. 

 The leaf is long, narrow, pointed and slender, 



