The Willows 



trees. It is an unmeasured advantage to a region to have its 

 shifting sands and mud banks estabhshed thus, and covered with 

 green. 



There are comparatively few willows that grow into large 

 trees. The rank and file of trees even in these species are small. 

 From Europe we have naturalised two large species, S. alba and 

 S. jragilis. The golden osier, whose yellow limbs are bright in 

 early spring in many a fence row, is called var. vitellina of 5. alba, 

 the white willow of Europe. The Babylonian willow, Salix 

 Babylonica, is the much-planted weeping willow of the Eastern 

 States. Var. dolorosa is the popular "Wisconsin Weeping Willow." 

 One of the best ornamental willows is S. -pentandra, the laurel 

 willow, whose crown of glossy, broad, green leaves adorns many 

 parks. This species is coming into well-deserved popular favour. 

 The Kilmarnock Willow is a weeping horticultural variety, 

 pendula, of 5. Caprea, Linn., the European goat willow. The 

 staminate tree is loaded in spring with catkins which are coarse 

 and ugly compared with those of our own pussy willow, S. discolor. 



Black Willow (Salix nigra, Marsh.) Medium-sized tree, 

 50 to 100 feet high, but usually smaller. Twigs slender, brittle at 

 base. Bark dark brown, flaky, deeply furrowed, often shaggy. 

 IVood light reddish brown, weak, soft, fine grained. Buds small, 

 acute, red-brown. Leaves narrowly lanceolate, acuminate at 

 apex, finely and evenly serrate, green on both sides; petioles 

 short, 2^ to 5 inches long; stipules leaf-like, semi heart shaped or 

 crescent shaped, deciduous or persistent. Flowers with leaves, 

 on short lateral twigs, dioecious; catkins i to 3 inches long, pencil- 

 like, erect; ovaries short, distinct, smooth; stamens 3 to 7; scales 

 oval, hairy, deciduous. Fruit loose racemed capsules, ovoid, 

 tapering; seeds minute. Preferred habitat, borders of lakes and 

 streams. Distribution, Newfoundland to Florida, west to Rocky 

 Mountains, reappearing in California. 



The black willow earns its name by the black bark of old trees. 

 An interesting feature of the foliage is the pair of leaf-like, heart- 

 shaped stipules that persist throughout the summer, as a rule, at 

 the base of each leaf. Among narrow-leaved willows this is the 

 only one with foliage uniformly green on both sides. The leaves 

 are often curved like a sickle. No willow has a wider distribution 

 than this intrepid species, which takes possession of stream 

 borders, climbs mountains and crosses arid plains to plant itself 



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