66 TREES GROWING NEAR WATER. 



siderable part of the country, S. alba is one of the introduced 

 willows that have escaped from cultivation. Its growth is free 

 and rapid ; as though it were quite independent of all care 

 and attention. Of the species there are several varieties, and it 

 is not always a simple matter to tell them from each other. 

 The fact that its own twigs are not yellowish will serve in one 

 instance to distinguish it from S. dlba vitelhna, yellow willow, or 

 golden osier. 



S. dlba ccerhlea has olive coloured twigs, and its leaves are of 

 a bluish green hue. 



S. alba arg/ntea, as the name implies, has foliage that is very 

 silvery. This is a particularly beautiful feature of the tree, and 

 when a strong breeze is seen playing through it the under sur- 

 faces of the leaves appear like flashes of light through the 

 green. 



YELLOW WILLOW. GOLDEN OSIER. {Plate XXIII) 



Salix dlba vitelllna. 



FAMILY SHAPE HEIGHT RANGE TIME OF BLOOM 



Willow. Erect, thick; spreading 30-40 feet. Introduced, general May. 



broadly. in U. S. 



Twigs: yellowish green or reddish; smooth; brittle at the base. Leaves: 

 simple; alternate; lanceolate; pointed at both ends ; when very young often 

 blunt or rounded at the apex; sharply serrate; pubescent, the silky white hairs 

 appearing on the upper surface of the leaf as well as underneath. This is es- 

 pecially so when young. Catkins : long; slender. 



Early in the spring especially, a golden glow from this wil- 

 low appears to lighten the whole of its surrounding atmos- 

 phere. It is a tree very common in America, perhaps the most 

 so of any one of the family. Even about old houses it is found, 

 and it grows abundantly in low places. 



For its commercial value the golden osier has been exten- 

 sively planted in France, where it principally supplies the mar- 

 ket with hoops, and it is also exported by the French to Great 

 Britain and other countries. 



