16 FAMILIAR FEATURES OF THE ROADSIDE. 



This species grows from three to eight feet 

 high. 



The dwarf gray willow (Salix tristis) is also com- 

 mon on dry ground ; the catkins are very small, 

 about half an inch long, globular or ovoid, and 

 loosely flowered. The leaf is one or two inches 

 long, without teeth, and slightly wavy-edged; the 

 leaves are crowded on the branchlets. This species 

 grows from one to one and a half feet high ; in gen- 

 eral appearance it is grayish, and for that reason 

 is sometimes called " sage willow." It is frequent- 

 ly found in the thickets which border the mountain 

 road. 



There are three other willows whose beautiful cat- 

 kins decorate the highway borders in spring. These 

 are the shining willow (Salix lucida\ a shrub from six 

 to fifteen feet high, common on the banks of streams ; 

 the heart-leaved willow (Salix cordata), eight to 

 twenty feet high, usually found in wet situations; and 

 the long-beaked willow (Salix rostrata), eight to fif- 

 teen feet high, very common on slightly moist ground. 

 The first species (S. lucidd), has large showy, yellow, 

 sterile catkins, which appear later than the broad, 

 shiny, sharply toothed leaves ; the second (8. cordata) 

 has beautiful yellow catkins appearing at the sides of 

 the stem with or before the leaves, which are usually 

 heart-shaped at the base ; the third (8. rostrata) has 



