SALICACEAE 39 



5 or sometimes more stamens, the filaments of which are free 

 and pubescent at the base. Each pistillate flower has a short, 

 undivided style, capped by a short, thick, deeply cut stigma. 

 The capsules, three-sixteenths to five-sixteenths inch long at ma- 

 turity, are lanceolate-ampuliform, brownish, and glabrous, and 

 are raised on the pedicels to a height half their length. 



Distribution. — The Shining Willow inhabits wet situations 

 and stream banks from Newfoundland westward to Manitoba 

 and southward to Delaware, northern Indiana, northern Iowa, 

 and North Dakota. In Illinois, it occurs only in the northern 

 third of the state. 



The variety intonsa Fernald is distinguished by having its 

 first year branchlets and the under surface of its leaves perma- 

 nently though thinly covered with reddish pubescence. It oc- 

 curs in northern Indiana about as frequently as the typical 

 form and may be encountered in Illinois. 



SALIX SERISSIMA (Bailey) Fernald 

 Autumn Willow 



The Autumn Willow, fig. 4, is a shrub 3 to 12 feet high with 

 shining, olive-brown branches and shining, glabrous, yellowish- 

 brown branchlets, which bear elliptic or oblong-lanceolate 

 leaves that usually are rounded at the base and acute or short- 

 acuminate at the apex. The leaf blades are 2 to 4 inches long 

 by about Yz to \y^ inches wide, closely and finely glandular- 

 serrate on the margins, dark green, shining, and glabrous above, 

 and pale to subglaucous beneath. The slender petioles are us- 

 ually glandular at the outer ends, and stipules are wanting. 



The short, stout catkins, which appear on the end of short, 

 leafy, lateral branches after the leaves are out, are oblong to 

 oval and l/^ to 1 inch long. Pistillate catkins are about ^ inch 

 wide and lax at maturity. The catkin scales are obovate, pale 

 yellow, and covered with long, white hair. Mature capsules 

 are narrowly conical, about 14 inch long, thick walled, brown, 

 and glabrous, and stand on stout pedicels. Staminate flowers 

 bear 3 to 5 or more stamens with free, finely long-hairy fila- 

 ments, and pistillate flowers bear short styles capped by very 

 short, 2-lobed stigmas. The flowering period ranges from late 

 June to the middle of July, and capsules mature from early 

 August into September. 



