260 WOODY PLANTS OF MASSACHUSETTS. 



and brownish at first, but soon turning dark and smooth. The 

 leaves are oval-oblong or elliptic -lanceolate, entire and wedge- 

 shaped, remotely waved-serrate, sometimes distinctly serrate, on 

 the edge, ending in an acute or prolonged point, mostly entire. 

 Young leaves silky-downy, mature, smooth on both surfaces; 

 mid-rib sometimes downy above ; glaucous beneath ; of a thin 

 and delicate texture. Stipules half-heart-shaped, or ear-shaped, 

 sometimes small and nearly entire, sometimes half an inch long 

 and more or less sharply toothed. 



Female ament cylindrical, one or two inches long, somewhat 

 crowded, on a short stalk invested with a few cucullate, silky- 

 downy, whitish, transformed leaves; scales oblong, hairy, pur- 

 ple; ovaries on a rather long stalk, ovate, silky, tapering to a 

 long style, with the stigmas somewhat deeply cleft. Male 

 ament an inch or more long ; filaments long. 



Sp. 6. Dense-floweked Early Willow. S. crassa. Barratt. 



Leaves elliptic-lanceolate, rather distantly serrate ; towards the base entire, — 

 three and a half inches long, one inch broad, above glabrous, dull green, be- 

 neath veined and clothed with short ferruginous hairs ; adult leaves subcoria- 

 ceous. The under surface in autumn is glaucous and partially divested of its 

 pubescence. Stipules small, lanceolate, serrate, or frequently wanting — male 

 ament ovate, sessile, three quarters to one inch long ; after flowering, two 

 inches long, densely clothed with yellowish-white, silky hairs ; scales obovate. 

 Capsules pedicellate, ovate-lanceolate. — Barratt, Sal. Am. p. 7. 



Flowers April 1 — 10 ; capsules ripe May 4 — 6. 



" A small tree about fifteen feet high ; bark on the stem rough 

 and ash-colored ; branches irregular and knotty ; twigs thick, 

 and densely flowered. The ends of the young branches pro- 

 tected by a soft pubescence. 



"This is a very hardy species, and one of the handsomest early 

 willows we possess, and highly ornamental in plantations. A 

 few sunny days in spring will cause its rich yellowish white 

 catkins to expand or open. It is so admirably adapted to with- 

 stand cold by its dense soft hairs, that the frosts of spring retard, 

 but do not injure or kill its expanded catkins. The clothing or 

 wool of the aments, is not sensibly changed in color by the solar 

 ray. This species is rather rare with us, and may possibly be 



