SALICACEJE. 



283 



Observe the arrangement of the minute flowers in 

 deciduous spikes {catkins)., each flower in the axil of a 

 minute bract-scale : the one-celled ovary with two parietal 

 placentas : the downy aril of the seeds. 



Fig. 173. Mule flower of Fig. 174. Female flower Fig. 175. Seed of 



Willow. of same. same 



Cuttings of Willow, when planted in moist earth, give 

 off adventitious roots very freely, and by this means they 

 are easily propagated. Of the Weeping Willow of Western 

 Asia, but one sex is in general cultivation in England. It 

 occurs also in Indian gardens. This small Family includes 

 but two genera, Willow and Poplar (Fopulus), both prin- 

 cipally confined to arctic and temperate regions, and, in 

 India and the trooics, to mountain slopes. 



