HISTORY OF THE WILLOWS AND POPLARS 17 



seventeenth and eighteenth centuries when they were replaced 

 by itinerant basket makers, who were sufficient for supplying 

 the local demand. With the advent of the factory system and 

 the simultaneous great increase in trade and communications, 

 the demand for baskets ahd hampers for parcel shipments of 

 all kinds gave a great impetus to basket making, particularly 

 in Europe where labor was so much cheaper than in America. 

 This, coupled with the constantly increasing popularity of wicker 

 furniture, has resulted in a constant and increasing demand for 

 willow shoots. Napoleon's embargo stimulated willow culture 

 in Britain, and considerable areas in our eastern states have 

 long been devoted to this purpose, usually however with little 

 selection as to species cultivated or cultural methods. 



The willows and poplars, which constitute a separate family 

 and order of plants, are characterized by a number > of well 

 marked morphological features. They have soft light wood, 

 astringent bark, watery sap, scaly buds and deciduous leaves — 

 short stalked in the willows, long stalked in the poplars — arranged 

 alternately and with stipules. The flowers are in the form of 

 catkins which bloom in the early spring in advance of the un- 

 folding of the leaves. These catkins are generally upright in 

 the willows and pendulous in the poplars, and the male and 

 female are borne on different plants. The seeds, which are 

 tufted with silky or cottony hairs, are formed in one celled, two 

 to four valved capsules, and are dispersed by the winds. 



By reason of their rapidity of growth, tolerance of moisture 

 (the name Salix is said to be derived from the Celtic sal = near 

 and Z^s= water) and their great adaptability to all kinds of soils 

 they occur in a variety of situations and the different members 

 of the family are found from the north polar region to the equa- 

 tor and beyond. They are gregarious because of the ease with 

 which they grow from suckers and sprouts, their great vitality 

 and free formation of shoots and seeds. About the only inimical 

 condition that proves fatal is shade, of which they are very 

 intolerant, hence in the natural growth of the forest they tend 

 to become replaced by slower growing trees which eventually 

 overtop them. Thus in time they become restricted (especially 



THE PLANT WORLD, VOL. 20, NO. 1 • 



