216 PRACTICAL FORESTRr. 



ing Africa and South America, and about sixty species in 

 North America. A very difficult genus to elaborate, as all the 

 species are more or less variable. Staminate and pistillate 

 aments or catkins preceding or accompanying the leaves. Seeds 

 minute, without albumen, cotyledons flattened. Trees, shrubs, 

 or low undershrubs, with alternate simple leaves. Wood light, 

 soft, of little economic value. The bark containing a bitter 

 principle, known as salacin, sometimes used as a substitute for 

 quinine. The slender, tough twigs, of some of the species are 

 extensively used for basket-making, and cultivated for this pur- 

 pose, a few species for ornament, and a far less number for their 

 wood. As a whole, the willows are of no great economic 

 importance, but all are readily propagated by cuttings, and 

 some of the smaller species are of value for planting in drifting 

 sands, and the banks of streams for the purpose of holding the 

 loose soil in place. My limited space will not admit of enu- 

 merating all the indigenous and unimportant species, therefore 

 I will only name a few of the larger-growing native, and foreign 

 species and varieties. 



Sallx eordata, Mulil. — Heart-leaved "Willow. — Leaves oblong- 

 lanceolate, taper-pointed, truncate or heart-shaped at base ; 

 shaii^ly toothed, smooth above, pale, downy beneath ; catkins 

 appearing with the leaves, leafy at base, cylindrical, the fertile 

 ones elongating with the development of the seeds. A small 

 tree, sometimes twenty feet high. From the North Eastern 

 States to the Arctic Coast. Abundant in Colorado, Utah, and 

 Nevada. There are some four or five local varieties recognized 

 by botanists. 



S. IjCTigata, Bebb. — Smooth-leaved "Willow. — Leaves lanceolate, 

 or oblong-lanceolate, sharp-jjointed, three to seven inches long, 

 smooth, glossy-green above, Avhitish beneath, minutely serni- 

 late, the male catkins, roundish-obovate, the female narrower, 

 and truncate, with two to four irregular teeth at apex. An 

 erect, pyramidal tree, fifteen to fifty feet high, with a stem one 

 to two feet in diameter, with fissured, dark-brown bark. In 

 CaHfornia, along the bottom lands near streams from San Diego 

 County to the Sacramento Valley. There are several varieties. 



S. lasiandra, Benth. — Long-leaved "Willow. — Leaves lanceolate, 

 taper-pointed, roundish at base, smooth, whitish beneath, mar- 

 gins closely and sharply serrate ; catkins with a leafy stalk, 

 with thin, yellowish scales, more or less hairy at the base ; the 

 female catkins smooth. Three natural varieties are described 



