134. CHILOPSIS SALIGNA DESERT WILLOW. 35 



134. CHILOPSIS SALIGNA, D., 



DESERT WILLOW, FLOWERING WILLOW. 



Ger., Wilste-Weide; Fr., Saule du desert; Sp., Sauce del desirto. 



SPECIFIC CHARACTERS incorporated in the above generic description, this being 

 the only species. 



(The specific name, saligna, is a Latin adjective fromsalix, the willow.) 



A small tree and commonly rather a shrub than tree, but under most 

 favorable influences it attains the height of 25 or 30 ft. (8 m.), with short 

 and often inclined trunk 12 in. (0.30 m.) in diameter, vested in a grayish- 

 brown bark, with broad, interbranchiug, firmly adherent, fibrous ridges. 

 Its habit of growth, with long slender and more or less drooping branch- 

 lets, is quite similar to the willows proper. It is a cheerful relief in the 

 desert, with its bright green grass-like leaves and handsome flowers, 

 which commence in early summer and continue for several months. 

 When leafless it is conspicuous on account of its long, slender pods which 

 swing among the branches long after the leaves have fallen. 



HABITAT. San Bernardino Co. and southward in California, east- 

 ward into Texas, northward as far as Nevada and Utah, and southward 

 into Mexico, where it is said to attain its greatest development. It grows 

 along the courses of streams and in the "washes" and depressions of the 

 deserts in dry gravely soil. 



PHYSICAL PROPERTIES. Wood light, soft, not strong, checking badly 

 in drying, with many fine medullary rays and annual rings indicated by 

 large open ducts which are also quite uniformly distributed through the 

 rest of the ring. It is of a dark and slightly greenish-brown color with 

 thin lighter sap-wood. Specific Gravity, 0.5902 ; Percentage of Ash, 

 0.37 ; Relative Approximate Fuel Value, 0.5880 ; Coefficient of Elasticity, 

 54421; Modulus of Rupture, 578 ; Resistance to Longitudinal Pressure, 

 297 ; Resistance to Indentation, 144 ; Weight of a Cubic Foot in Pounds, 

 36.78. 



USES. Little or no use is made of this wood, though the trees are 

 occasionally planted for ornamental purposes in the southwest and in 

 Mexico, for which it is admirably suited, blooming as it does all summer 

 long in spite of the dryness, with delightfully fragrant flowers, and can 

 be easily propagated by cuttings as well as by seeds. 



* Chilopsis linearis, DC. 



