BLACK WILLOW 219 



re volute. The catkins sessile ; $ nearly so, with a few 

 bracts. Anthers yellow before anthesis. Branches not 

 pruinose. 



Catkins sessile, rather crowded, on second year's twigs ; 

 appearing early, with a few basal scales only, cylindroid, 

 1*53 cm., the 1218 mm., the $ 814 mm. broad, 

 with long silky hairs appressed to the obovate scales ; the 

 latter black or brown at the upper half. 



Flowers with only 1 narrow, slender, posterior gland. 

 Male flowers of 2 free, glabrous stamens, yellow, passing to 

 brownish. Ovary sub-sessile, ovoid-conic, appressed silky, 

 with a long glabrous style and deeply divided bifid stigma, 

 both yellow. Capsule sessile or nearly so, ovoid-conic, 

 appressed pubescent, with widely diverging valves. 



Ovary pedicellate ; stamens 2, free. Style 

 and stigma rather short. 



f~~l Ovary glabrous^ or glabrescent ; leaves 

 glabrous or nearly so, blackening when 

 dried, oblong -obovate to nearly rotund, 

 2 10 x 1'2 4*5 cm.) with a distinct petiole 

 up to 2 cm. long. 



Salix nigricans, Sm. Black Willow. Shrub or bushy 

 tree, with dark brown or olive branches, and leaves which 

 blacken on drying. 



Catkins before the foliage, sub-sessile, with leafy bases : 

 the </ short oblong, the $ long, lax, and slender. Scales 

 oval or oblong, reddish below, deep brown at the tips ; 

 covered with long white or rusty hairs. Stamens 2, free, 

 glabrous or slightly hairy at the base. Capsule on a 

 distinct pedicel, glabrous or glabrescent, narrow and taper- 

 ing, with a long slender style: stigmas bifid, spreading. 

 Nectary very short, not more than ^ the pedicel. 



