Scouler's Willow 



205 



very hairy bracts obovate, brown, blunt, persistent; there are 2 stamens with 

 smooth, separate filaments in the staminate flowers, and the pistillate ones have 

 a narrowly ovoid ovar}^ which is loosely hairy, at least toward the top, the style 

 longer than the notched stigmas. The fruiting catkins become 6 cm. long or less, 

 the somewhat hairy capsules 4 or 5 mm. long, their stalks about 1.5 mm. long. 



28. GLAUCOUS WILLOW -Salix discolor Muhlenberg 



Known also as Pussy willow. Silver willow, and Swamp willow, this shrub or 

 small tree inhabits swamps, stream-banks, and moist hillsides from Nova Scotia 

 to Delaware, Ontario, Manitoba, and Missouri. It seldom becomes a tree, usually 

 being a shrub not over 5 meters high, but trees up to 8 meters high have been 

 observed with trunks up to 3 dm. in diameter. 



Its bark is reddish brown, thin, somewhat scaly. The young twigs arc some- 

 what hairy, purple, soon becoming smooth, the 

 winter buds purpHsh and shining. The leaves 

 are oblong to oblong- lanceolate or obovate- 

 oblong, 12 cm. long or less, 1.4 to 4 cm. wide, 

 more or less hairy on the under side when 

 young, smooth on both sides when mature, 

 dark green above, whitish or glaucous beneath, 

 pointed at both ends, the margin toothed or 

 nearly entire; their stalks are 6 to 24 mm. 

 long, their stipules obliquely lanceolate or half 

 heart-shaped, and usually fall away before 

 midsummer. The catkins are borne on the 

 sides of twigs of the previous season and 

 flower in March or April, long before the leaves 

 unfold; they are densely flowered, 4 to 5 cm. 

 long, their bracts brown-tipped and long-silky; ^^- '^^- - Glaucous Willow, 



the staminate flowers have 2 stamens with separate filaments; the pistillate flowers 

 have a stalked oblong-conic hairy ovary, a short style and undivided stigmas. 

 The narrowly ovoid-conic capsules are 5 to 8 mm. long, and quite hair}'. 



While naturally preferring wet soil, this willow grows wxll when planted on 

 upland, and well-developed bushes are handsome and interesting. 



Salix eriocephala Michaux, a closely related shrub, has the young branches 

 densely hair)'^, and thicker leaves with prominently toothed margins. 



29. SCOULER'S WILLOW Salix Scouleriana Barrett 



Salix flavescens Nuttall, not Host. Salix brachystachys Bentham. Salix Nnttallii Sargent 



Scouler's willow inhabits moist soil from the valley of the Yukon River to British 

 Columbia, southern CaHfomia, Colorado, and New Mexico, reaching under 



