110 FAMILIAR TREES AND THEIR LEAVES. 



White Willow. The white willow, also imported from 

 Salic, alba. Europe, is similar in many respects to 

 the foregoing species ; in fact, it has become so much 

 mixed with it that a recognition of either species by 

 means of the leaves is far from easy. 

 There are also several va- 

 rieties of the white wil- 

 low. In its typical form 

 the twigs are olive, and the 

 leaves are somewhat silky on both 

 sides. In var. mtellina the twigs are 

 yellow ; in var. ccerulea they are olive, and 

 the leaves, smooth above, are a trifle bluish 



' ' White 



green. In var. argentea the foliage is very WiUow - 

 whitish silvery gray ; but in each instance the leaves 

 in outline taper both ways, and have sharp, thick 

 teeth. The wood of the white willow is used in the 

 manufacture of charcoal for gunpowder. The tree 

 is very common throughout the country. 

 Weeping Willow. It is scarcely necessary to say that the 

 Salix Babylonia*. we eping willow is also a species intro- 

 duced from Europe ; but it is extensively cultivated 

 here, and is usually planted beside the water. Gray 

 says in many places it has spread along river banks 

 and lake shores through the drifting of detached 

 branches. The large, graceful tree with its long 

 pendulous branchlets is too familiar an object to 



