POND, LAKE, AND STREAM 



19 



bumblebees, and other insects carried the dust or pollen 

 from the sterile, or staminate flowers to the fertile, or pistil- 

 late ones. Why did the bees visit the willows ? 



After the insects had fertilized the pistils, the seeds in 

 them grew, and many of the little pods are opening and the 

 tiny seeds which are 

 attached to a tuft of 

 delicate cotton are car- 

 ried off by the wind 

 and scattered far and 

 wide. If they happen 

 to drop on moist soil, 

 the young trees soon 

 begin to grow. 



From the twigs and 

 leaves we have gath- 

 ered, we see that there 

 are many species of 

 willows. Most of them 

 have rather long and 

 pointed leaves ; some 

 have the leaf margins 



toothed, in others they FIG. 3. SAGE WILLOW. Salix Candida. 

 are entire. The 

 branches of 

 species are well adapted for all kinds of wickerwork. 

 Your mothers' work-baskets are made of willow twigs. On 

 the prairies they are often planted for wind-breaks. Most 

 of them like to grow near the water, but several do quite 

 well on high ground. Some are small bushes and shrubs ; 

 others are trees fifty feet high. About twenty species of 

 the willow family grow wild between the Atlantic coast and 

 the Rocky Mountains, and quite a number have been intro- 



lithe rt > staminate catkins ; b, pistillate catkins. 



About one-half natural size, 

 some 



Which was carried farther, the coarse or the fine material ? 



