414 SALICACE^E. (BILLOW FAMILY.) 



upper side becoming nearly smooth at maturity ; stipules minute, hair?/, very early 

 deciduous ; catkins globular when young, loosely -flowered ; ovary with a long tapering 

 beak, clothed with silvery hairs; style short; stigmas '2-lobed. New England to 

 Wisconsin, and southward. Shrub l-l high, much branched: leaves 

 thick, 1^' long. Stipules seldom seen, often reduced to a mere gland. A vari- 

 ety occurs with very small and rigid contorted leaves. 



3. S. llllllliliS, Marshall. (Low BUSH WILLOW.) Leaves petioled, lan- 

 ceolate or obovatc-lanceolate, acute or obtuse with an abrupt point, slightly 

 downy above, more thickly so, or sometimes grayish-woolly, beneath ; stipules 

 small, semi-ovate and entire, or larger and lunar with 2-4 teeth, shorter than the peti- 

 oles ; catkins often recurved; ovary hairy; style distinct; stigmas 2-cleft. (S. 

 Muhlenbcrgiana, Barratt. S. conifera, Muhl.) Borders of fields and road- 

 sides; common. Shrub 3 - 8 high, varying much in size and appearance. 

 The small forms are at times scarcely distinguishable from No. 2, but the leaves 

 are longer, less firm in texture, and generally stipulate ; the larger forms, with 

 leaves 3' -5' long and $'-!' broad, resemble those of the two next species, but 

 retain more or less down on the under surface at maturity. The species of this 

 and the following section often bear cone-like excrescences on the ends of the 

 branches, formed of closely imbricated leaves, probably occasioned by the punc- 

 ture of insects. 



- *- Catkins cylindrical, large, clothed with long glossy hairs : leaves more or less 

 serrate, smooth and shilling above, glaucous beneath and at length smooth. Shrubs 

 or small trees. 



4. S. discolor, Muhl. (GLAUCOUS WILLOW.) Leaves lanceolate or 

 ovate-lanceolate, acute, irregularly toothed on the sides, entire at the base and 

 apex ; stipules semilunar, toothed ; catkins erect ; scales very hairy, oblanceolate, 

 somewliat acute; ovary densely silky. (S. scnsitiva, Barratt ?) Low meadows 

 and river-banks ; common. A large shrub or small tree, 8 -15 high. The 

 young leaves are commonly obtuse and pubescent, at length becoming smooth 

 and whitish-glaucous beneath. Stipules in the vigorous shoots equalling the 

 petiole, more often small and inconspicuous. Young catkins l' long, glossy, 

 blackish with the conspicuous scales, elongating in fruit to 2^'. 



5. S. criocephala, Michx. (SILKY-HEADED WILLOW.) Leaves ob- 

 long-oval, acute, rounded or tapering at base, sparingly and irregularly toothed ; 

 stipules semilunar, toothed ; catkins densely flowered, thickly covered with long shin- 

 ing hairs ; scales of the sterile ones round-obovate, obtuse; ovary conspicuously stalked, 

 downy. ( S. prinoides, Pursh ? S. crassa, Barratt.} Low meadows and swamps. 

 Closely resembles the last ; but the aments are more compact and silky, and 

 the scales rounder. 



# # Ovary stalked, silky-gray, shining : catkins ovoid or cylindrical, with a few small 

 leaf -like bracts at the base : leaves finely and evenly serrate, silky-gray or glaucous 

 beneath, drying black: stipules varying from linear to semilunar, toothed, very decid- 

 uous. Shrubs. 



6. S. sericca, Marshall. (SILKY-LEAVED WILLOW.) Leaves lanceolate, 

 pointed, downy above, grayish underneath with short silky hairs; sterile catkins 

 small; the fertile narrowly cylindrical, closely flowered ; scales obtuse, round-obo- 



