48 ELEMENTS OF BOTANY. 



II. SALIX. 



Shrubs or trees, branches usually very slender, buds with 

 single scales ; leaves usually long and narrow ; stipules some- 

 times leaf-like or often small and soon deciduous ; bracts of 

 the aments entire ; staminate aments erect or drooping, stami- 

 nate flowers with 2-10, mostly 2, distinct or united stamens ; 

 pistillate aments usually erect, flowers with a small gland on 

 the inner side of the bract, stigmas short, 2-lobed ; capsule 

 2-valved. 



1. S. NIGRA Marsh. Black Willow. Leaves eUiptical or nar- 

 rowly lanceolate, acute at each end, serrate, short-petioled, downy 

 when young and becoming smooth with age, 2-3 in. long ; stipules 

 persistent or deciduous ; staminate aments 1-2 in. long ; the pistil- 

 late 2-4 in. long ; stamens 3-7, distinct, filaments pubescent below ; 

 capsule twice the length of the pedicel, ovate, acuminate, pointed by 

 the prominent style. March-April. A small tree with very brittle 

 branches. Along streams and borders of marshes. 



2. S. Babylonica L. Weeping Willow. Leaves narrowly 

 lanceolate, acuminate, serrate, slightly downy when young and 

 becoming smooth with age, green above, pale beneath, often 5-7 in. 

 long, petioles short, glandular ; aments on short lateral branches ; 

 stamens 2, style almost none, capsule sessile, glabrous. March- 

 April. Introduced and cultivated for ornament, becoming a large 

 tree. 



24. BETULACE;E. birch FAMILY. 



Trees or shrubs, with alternate, simple, petioled leaves with 

 usually deciduous stipules ; monoecious flowers in cylindrical 

 or subglobose aments, staminate aments drooping ; flowers 

 1-3 in the axil of each bract, calyx none, or membranous 

 and 2-4-parted ; stamens 2-10, distinct ; pistillate aments 

 drooping, spreading, or erect and spike-like ; flowers with or 

 without a calyx, ovary solitary, 1-2-celled, ovules 1-2 in each 

 cell; fruit a 1-celled nut or samara. 



I. CARPINUS. 



Trees with thin, straight- veined leaves, which are folded 

 in the bud ; flowers expanding before the leaves ; staminate 



