BLACK WILLOW 219 



revolute. The ^ catkins sessile ; % nearly so, with a few 

 bracts. Anthers yellow before anthesis. Branches not 

 pruinose. 



Catkins sessile, rather crowded, on second year's twigs ; 

 appearing early, with a few basal scales only, cylindroid, 

 1-53 cm., the ^ 1218 mm., the % 814 mm. broad, 

 with long silky hairs appressed to the obovate scales ; the 

 latter black or brown at the upper half. 



Flowers with only 1 narrow, slender, posterior gland. 

 Male flowers of 2 free, glabrous stamens, yellow, passing to 

 brownish. Ovary sub-sessile, ovoid-conic, appressed silky, 

 with a long glabrous style and deeply divided bifid stigma, 

 both yellow. Capsule sessile or nearly so, ovoid-conic, 

 appressed pubescent, with widely diverging valves. 



Ovary pedicellate ; stamens 2, free. Style 

 and stigma rather short. 



n Ovary glabrous, or glahrescent ; leaves 

 glabrous or nearly so, blackening when 

 dried, oblong-obovate to nearly rotund, 

 2 10 X r2 4-5 C7n., with a distinct petiole 

 lip to 2 cm. long. 



Salix nigricans, Sm. Black Willow. Shrub or bushy 

 tree, with dark brown or olive branches, and leaves which 

 blacken on drying. 



Catkins before the foliage, sub-sessile, with leafy bases : 

 the cT short oblong, the $ long, lax, and slender. Scales 

 oval or oblong, reddish below, deep brown at the tips ; 

 covered with long white or rusty hairs. Stamens 2, free, 

 glabrous or slightly hairy at the base. Capsule on a 

 distinct pedicel, glabrous or glabrescent, narrow and taper- 

 ing, with a long slender style : stigmas bifid, spreading. 

 Nectary very short, not more than ^ the pedicel. 



