OSIER: BLACK WILLOW 255 



^ Buds very small, thin and 

 narrow, appressed; leaf- 

 bases not prominent ; twigs 

 long and slender. 



S. viminalis, L. Osier (Fig. 134). The twigs are 

 velvety, not silky, greenish yellow or olive-tawny to 

 yellowish brown, passing through olive or olive-brown 

 to maroon, polished, and often very long, slender, and 

 supple; the tips remaining slightly velvety and angular. 

 Lenticels few. Buds very small, thin, narrow, appressed, 

 somewhat tomentose, puberulent ; often in pairs, side by 

 side, towards the apex of the twig, which may become 

 smooth lower down. 



^ ^ Buds larger and convex, 

 erect ; not thin and flat- 

 appressed; shoots and buds 

 grey velvety -tomentose. 



\ Twigs deep purple-black 

 or olive, velvety ; the older 

 smooth purple-black. 



S. nigricans, Sm. Black Willow. This, probably a 

 variety of S. Phylicifolia, has the twigs of two to three 

 years old nearly black-purple or olive, passing from 

 velvety or glandular hairy to smooth and shining ; buds 

 convex, hardly appressed, densely velvety. Twigs longer 

 and less branched or tufted than S. Phylicifolia, and leaf- 

 bases not prominent. There is the same tendency to have 

 pairs of buds in the axils. Younger twigs rounded, olive- 

 brown to red-brown, with scattered lenticels. 



$ J Buds ovoid, large, like 

 S. Caprea, but they and 

 the twigs remain soft and 

 velvety pilose, and more 

 or less tawny or red. 



