CXVIII. SALICACE.E. G61 



Order CXVIII. SALICACE^. 



Deciduous fast-growing trees or shrubs. Leaves alteruate, petiolate ; 

 stipules free. Plowers dioeeious (rarely monoecious), in catkins which 

 are similar in belli sexes, each bract beariug 1 flower in its axil ; 

 bracteoles 0. Perianth 0. Disk of one or more scales or glands, or 

 cup-shaped. Male flowers : Stamens 2 or more ; filaments free or 

 connate; anthers ovate-oblong, dehiscing longitudinally. Rudimentary 

 ovary in normal flowers 0. Pemale eloweiis : Ovary sessile or stalked, 

 1-celled ; ovules few or many, on 2-4 sub-basal or parietal placentas, 

 erect, anatropous; style short or 0; stigmas shoi't, notched or lobed. 

 Pruit an ovoid or lanceolate 2-4-valved capsule. Seeds few or many ; 

 f unicle with a pencil of long silky deciduous hairs ; albumen ; 

 cotyledons plano-convex ; radicle short, inferior. — Distiiib. Genera 2 ; 

 species about 180, chiefly in N. temperate regions. 



Petioles short ; disk of 1 or 2 separate glands ; stamens 2-12 ; ovules 



few on each placenta 1. Salix. 



Petioles long; disk flat or cup-sliaped ; stamens 4-3U ; ovules 



numerous on each placenta 2. PoruLUS. 



1. SALIX, Linn. 



Trees or shrubs. Leaves lanceolate, ovate or elliptic, entire or serru- 

 late; petioles short, as a rule less than ^ the length of the leaf-blade; 

 stipules various. Plowers small, dioecious (rarely monoecious ; sometimes 

 androgynous in S. ichnostacJu/a), in usually dense catkins ; bracts str.all, 

 entire. Perianth 0. Disk of 2 scales (anterior and posterior) or of one 

 posterior scale, fleshy or glandular. Male flowers: Stamens 2-12 (in 

 many species 2); filaments long, filiform, usually free; anthers usually 

 small. Pemale flowers : Ovary sessile or stalked ; placentas 2 ; 

 ovules 2-seriate on each placenta, usually 4-8 ; style usually short with 

 2 short retuse or 2-fid arms. Pruit a 2-valved capsule, the valves 

 genei'ally rolled back. Seeds with a penicillate funicle ; albunien ; 

 cotyledons plano-convex;, radicle inferior.— Disxrib. Species about 160, 

 almost all in the Northern Hemisphere. 



Capsules glabrous, pedicellate 1. 5. tetras'pcrma. 



Capsules densely' woolly, sessile or nearly so 2. 6'. ichnuslachya. 



1. Salix tetrasperma, Boxh. Cor. PI. v. 1 (1795) p. G6, t. 97. A 



much-branched tree 20-40 ft. high ; bark rough with deep vertical 

 furrows ; young shoots silky, becoming glabrous. Leaves 2-5 by 

 ~-l^ in., lanceolate, acute or acuminate, usually serrulate, sometimes 

 obscurely so, green and glabrous above, white and more or less silky 

 beneath when very young ; petioles |— |- in. long ; stipules subulate, deci- 

 duous. Plowers appearing after the leaves ; catkins hairy, 2-5 in. long ; 

 peduncles silky-villous, leafy at the base. Male flowers sweet- 

 scented, sessile ; bracts ovate, concave, subacute, silky-villous, veined. 

 Disk of 2 yellow glands. Stamens 5-10 ; filaments free, of various 

 lengths, the longest about twice as long as the bract ; anthers yellow. 

 Pemale flowers pedicellate ; bracts smaller than those of the male, 

 oblong or obovate-oblong, hairy. Disk small, ^-annular, yellowy clasping 

 the pedicel at the side opposite the bract. Ovary fusiform, glabrocs ; 



