APETALAZ 193 
the leaves are small the tree gives a good shade and 
cover beneath it. The leaves are long, lanceolate, 
serrate, glaucous below, shiny above, glandular on 
the upper surface, petiolate,acute. The brittle twigs 
can be cracked off with a touch of the finger. There 
are subcordate stipules. 
The monecious plants have spreading catkins, 
with yellow anthers, the male catkins long, the female 
slender. The scales are not long, persistent. The 
ovary is subulate, ovate, sessile. In the male flowers 
there is an abortive ovary. 
The Crack Willow is known to reach a height of 
go ft., but it is more often 15 to 50 ft. The flowers 
are in bloom later than many of the other willows— 
from April to May. 
The flowers have the usual structure of anemo- 
philous plants. In some willows, however, as in 
Sallow, etc., insect visitors occur regularly, and 
the plants are cross-pollinated. The crowding of 
numerous flowers in one catkin renders them con- 
spicuous, and easier for bees to feed upon. The 
male flowers are more conspicuous than the female, 
and the flowers appear before the leaves. They have 
an abundance of honey and pollen. 
Flowering early they are specially sought after by 
bees. Bees, flies, beetles and Lepidoptera visit the 
Willows. 
The seeds are fringed with hairs, and when the 
capsules burst they are dispersed by the aid of these 
structures by the wind. 
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