30 HANDBOOK 14 8, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



Bud scale removed 



Bud scale single 



Willows (Salix spp.) 



F-486452 



soon falling (leaving stipule scars) ; catkins erect or spreading, 

 stalkless or stalked, appearing before, with, or after leaves; 

 each pollen- or seed-producing flower with 1 (or 2) peg-shaped 

 glands and in axil of a usually entire and hairy, often per- 

 sistent flower scale; stamens usually 2-5, sometimes 1, rarely 

 more than 5; seed pods (capsules) somewhat pear-shaped, 

 stalked or stalkless, splitting into 2 (rarely 3) parts; seeds 

 many, very tiny, surrounded at base by long, fine, silky, white 

 hairs; trees or shrubs with very bitter bark, often stump- or 

 root-sprouting (in favorable sites, sometime reproducing by 

 rooting of fallen twigs), mostly insect-pollinated, often cross- 

 breeding (hybrids often with both pollen- and seed-producing 

 flowers in same catkin) willows (Salix spp.). 6 



6 See C. R. Ball, Illustrating Plant Organs for Taxonomic Purposes. Castanea 

 8:67-71. 1943, and More Plant Study; Fewer Plant Names. Arn. Arb. Jour. 

 27:371-385. 1946. 



