SALICACEAE. ' 89 



bracts white, obovate, unguiculate, 5-6 mm. long; ovules 6-10 on 

 each placenta. 



Frequent in wet saline places throughout our range. March- 

 August. 



Family 17. SALICACEAE. Willow Family. 

 Trees or shrubs, with simple alternate stipulate leaves 

 and dioecious flowers in terminal aments. Each flower 

 subtended by a scale-like bract. Perianth none. Sta- 

 mens 2-several, central or scattered on a glandular disk. 

 Ovary 1-celled; stigmas 2-4. Fruit a 2-4-valved cap- 

 sule, with numerous comose seeds. 



Bracts fimbriate or incised; stamens numerous; stig- 

 mas elongated. 1. Populus. 

 Bracts entire; stigmas short. 2. Salix. 



1. POPULUS L. Poplar or Cottonwood. 



Trees with scaly resinous buds, terete or angled twigs, 

 and broad or narrow, usually petloled leaves, the stipules 

 minute, fugacious. Bracts of the aments fimbriate or 

 incised. Disk cup-shaped, oblique, lobed or entire. 

 Stamlnate aments dense, pendulous, their flowers with 

 4-60 stamens, with distinct filaments. Pistillate aments 

 pendulous, erect or spreading. Ovary sessile; style 

 short; stigmas 2-4, entire or 4-lobed. Capsule 2-4- 

 valved. Coma of the seeds often very long and copious. 



1. P. trichocarpa T. & G. Tree with a broad head of ascending 

 branches, 8-15 m. high; leaves ovate or oblong-ovate, rounded at 

 base, acute at apex, serrulate, dark green and shining above, pale 

 beneath, 5-8 cm. long, on terete petioles, 3-5 cm. long; staminate 

 aments 3-5 cm. long; disk oblique, bearing 40-60 stamens, with 

 purple anthers; pistillate aments 5-7 cm. long, loosely flowered; 

 ovary hoary tomentose; capsule 3-valved. 



Frequent in the canyons of all our mountains and sometimes 

 extending down into the valleys. March. 



2. P. fremonti Wats. Tree with a broad head of wide-spreading 

 branches, 6-15 m. high; leaves deltoid-orbicular, 4-10 cm. long, 

 somewhat broader; crenate or sinuate-crenate, abruptly acute at 

 apex, truncate or subcordate at base, green or yellowish-green on 

 both surfaces; staminate aments 25-35 mm. long; stamens 60 or 

 more, with dark red anthers; pistillate aments 5 cm. long, loosely 

 flowered; ovary glabrous; capsule on pedicels 4 mm. long, minutely 

 rough-tuberculate. 



Rare within our limits. Fernando. Common in the San Ber- 

 nardino Valley, and in San Diego County south of the San Luis 

 Rey River. 



