BLACK WILLOW 



(Salix Nigra) 



THE willows and the cottonwoods belong to the same family of 

 trees, Salicacea, and the family is fairly numerous, and it has some 

 well-defined traits of character. The quinine-bitter of the bark is ever 

 present, but more marked in willows than in cottonwoods. Though 

 quite unpleasant to the taste, it is harmless. The leaves never grow in 

 pairs, and in most instances they fall early in autumn, and some without 

 changing color. Male and female flowers are borne on different trees, 

 and fertilizing is done by insects, often by honey bees and bumblebees. 

 Fruit ripens in late spring, and the seeds are equipped for flight by being 

 provided with exceedingly fine silky hairs. The wind carries them long 

 distances. The trees generally grow in the immediate vicinity of streams 

 or in situations where the soil is damp, but there are exceptions. 



The willow family consists of two genera, one the cottonwoods or 

 poplars, the other the willows proper. There are about seventy-five 

 species of willow in America, twenty of them trees. Some, however, 

 are quite small and only occasionally attain sizes which place them in 

 the tree class. The willows are old residents of this continent. They 

 grew in the central portion of what is now the United States in the 

 Cretaceous age, as is proved by their leaf prints in the rocks. They have 

 held their ground ever since, and there is no likelihood that they are 

 about to give it up. Few species are better fitted for holding what they 

 have. A few trees are capable of seeding a large region in a few years, 

 and if soil and situation are suitable, reproduction will be abundant. 

 The willows' tenacity of life is often remarkable. It sometimes seems 

 next to impossible to kill them by cutting off their tops. There are said 

 to be instances in Europe where willows have been pollarded successively 

 during hundreds of years, the crops of sprouts being used for wickerwork 

 and other purposes. No such records exist in this country, but the 

 willow's sprouting habit is well known. A shoot stuck in the ground 

 will grow, and a fence post will sprout. Many willows develop large 

 stools, or roots, and repeatedly send up numerous sprouts, and it makes 

 little difference how often they are cut, others will come up. 



Comparatively few willows that start in life ever become trees. 

 They are suppressed by crowding, or meet misfortunes of one kind or 

 another which keep them small, but occasionally a tree of good size 

 results. Willow trees are usually not old. Probably few reach an age 

 exceeding 150 years. Large trunks, in old age, are apt to be hollow or 

 otherwise defective, though a willow tree will live many years after 



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