SALICACEAE 47 



ern stations in northern Indiana and Illinois. It was at one time 

 an abundant shrub on the sandy shores of Lake Michigan north 

 of Chicago but is now much reduced in distribution and in 

 abundance. It does not grow inland. 



SALIX PEDICELLARIS Pursh 



Bog Willow 



The Bog Willow, fig. 5, is a low, spreading or trailing shrub 

 with erect, leafy shoots 1 to 5 feet high, which arise from long, 

 creeping, root-covered stems that penetrate deeply into the bog. 

 The leaves are glabrous, narrowly to broadly elliptical, ^ to 

 lyz inches long by 14 to i/^ inch wide, thick and somewhat 

 leathery, pale green above and often glossy, paler and usually 

 white-glaucous beneath, obtuse or occasionally somewhat 

 pointed at the apex and narrowed to the petiole at the base. 

 The margins are entire and usually distinctly revolute, and fine 

 glands often are present. The yellowish leaf veins are finely 

 reticulated both above and below. Twigs and branchlets both 

 are moderate in diameter to rather stout, brown to olive brown, 

 glabrous, and generally terete, but often fine yet distinct ridges 

 run down from the leaf-scars. The petioles are slender, gla- 

 brous, and only ]/s to ]/^ inch long. The light brown buds are 

 glabrous, rather plump and bluntly ovate, one- to three-six- 

 teenths inch long, and stand appressed against the twigs. Stip- 

 ules are entirely lacking. 



Catkins, which appear with the leaves, are cylindrical to 

 oval and Y^ to lYz inches long. They arise from lateral buds on 

 old wood and stand erect on leafy peduncles ^ to 2 inches 

 long. The pistillate catkin becomes lax in fruit, though not 

 pendulous, and its yellow scales are oval to obovate and either 

 obtuse or somewhat pointed, glabrous, and a trifle pubescent. 

 Staminate flowers have 2 stamens, the filaments of which are 

 free, and pistillate flowers bear very short, entire styles capped 

 by short, thick, entire or bifid stigmas. Mature capsules are 

 lanceolate to narrowly conic, orange brown to brown, glabrous, 

 spreading and loosely arranged, three-sixteenths to 14 inch long, 

 and raised on a slender pedicel about Y> ^^^^ high. 



Distribution. — The Bog Willow grows in bogs and wet 

 meadows or marshy ground from eastern Quebec across the 

 continent to British Columbia, southward into New Jersey and 



