48 SALICACEAE 



Pennsylvania and, in the west, into Idaho and Washington. In 

 Illinois, it is a rare plant, probably limited at the present time 

 to the bogs of Lake County. Formerly it grew near Peoria, and 

 Dr. Frederick Brendel collected specimens in Woodford County, 

 "1 mile beyond the upper ferry," a locality said to be the farth- 

 est south in the Mississippi valley for this species. 



SALIX DISCOLOR Muhlenberg 

 ■ Pussy Willow 



The Pussy Willow, fig. 5, usually is a shrub 6 to 12 feet high 

 but occasionally is more or less treelike and up to 24 feet high, 

 with unusually smooth stems, reddish-brown bark, and moderate 

 to stout branchlets upon which the leaves appear after flowering. 

 The leaves are lanceolate to rather strongly elliptical, with 

 acute or shortly acuminate tips, acute or rounded bases, entire 

 or coarsely toothed margins, and glabrous surfaces dark and 

 shining above but densely glaucous and, in some varieties, also 

 more or less pubescent beneath, especially on the midvein. They 

 are 2 to 4 inches long by 1 to Ij/^ inches wide. The rather stout 

 petioles upon which they stand are ]4 to 1/4 inch long and 

 glabrous in the typical form. The stipules are roundish to 

 lanceolate, entire or toothed, glaucous beneath, and up to 14 

 inch long. Both branchlets and twigs are terete, reddish purple 

 or dark brown, and glabrous in the typical form, with rather 

 prominently raised leaf-scars. The typically glabrous buds are 

 ovate to subconical, and their scales are bright orange brown to 

 dark brown. Those that produce leaves are blunt, appressed, 

 and about i/g inch long; those that produce flowers are rather di- 

 vergent, with sharp, incurved points, plump, and ^4 to ^ inch 

 long. 



Catkins appear before the leaves, bursting from buds on old 

 wood. Both sorts are sessile, stout, and dense, without basal 

 leafy bracts. The staminate catkins, commonly known as 

 "pussies," are ^ to 2 inches long. The pistillate catkins, at 

 first the same size, attain at maturity a length of 1 to 3i/^ 

 inches. The catkin scales are elliptic to oblanceolate, dark 

 brown, and clothed with long, shining hair. Staminate flowers 

 bear 2 stamens, the filaments of which are pubescent and free 

 from each other. Pistillate flowers have short, entire styles 

 about as long as the usually entire stigmas. The capsules at 



