VIII. 2. THE GLOSSY WILLOW. 267 



straightness of its vigorous green shoots. It is found in Rox- 

 bury, along the Lowell road, and for some distance along the 

 brook which runs near Mr. J. A. Lowell's house. It is there 

 mingled with the yellow willow. 



Sp. 12. The Glossy Willow. S. lucida. Muhlenberg. 



The leafis figured in the Annals of Botany, II, Plate 5, fig. 7, and in Michaux, 



Sylva, III, Plate 125. 



Leaves ovate oblong ; cuspidate, acuminate, rounded and somewhat alter- 

 nate at base, sharply serrate, with glandular serratures, smooth and shining 

 on both surfaces ; stipules oblong or roundish, glandular -serrate ; aments ap- 

 pearing with the leaves ; about three to five stamens; scales broad-lanceolate, 

 obtuse, hairy at base, toothed at the apex, smooth above ; ovaries lanceolate- 

 subulate, stalked, smooth; style cleft, stigmas bifid, obtuse. Outer bud-scales 

 very hairy.— Pursh. II, 615 ; Willd. IV, 667. 



A handsome small tree, sometimes twelve to fifteen feet 

 high, and four inches diameter, usually smaller. The trunk'is 

 nearly smooth, and the bark externally much resembles that of 

 a maple. The small branches are smooth, polished, and dark 

 green. Recent shoots a shining yellow, those of the second year 

 bronzed. The leaves have a singularly neat and definite outline, 

 from one to two inches broad, by three and a half to five long. 

 They are on short, compressed, smooth footstalks ; ovate-lanceo- 

 late, or elliptic-lanceolate, rounded at base, tapering to a very 

 long acuminate point; closely and sharply glandular-serrate, of 

 a shining green above ; lighter, polished and reticulate beneath. 

 At the base of the leaf, on each side, are usually a few pedicellate 

 glands. Stipules small, semi-circular, glandular-serrate. Buds 

 long, compressed, on the recent shoots bright yellow. The 

 branches, large and small, are extremely brittle near the base ; 

 indeed, every part is brittle except the recent shoots, which are 

 tough, but less so than those of most other willows. 



This is the most beautiful of the willows. Hardly ever have 

 I experienced more vividly the sense of beauty in inanimate 

 nature, than on coming, unexpectedly, upon a low clump of 

 this willow, in a little islet, on the edge of Meeting-House Pond, 

 in Westminster. 



This willow is found in all parts of the State, and of New 



