36 



toothed or nearly entire; catkins appearing before (precocious), with 

 (coetaneous), or after the leaves (serotinous) ; each pistillate flower with 

 a little gland at the base of the pedicel on the inside. 



A large genus of several hundred species varying from tiny shrubby 

 or subherbaceous plants scarcely an inch in height to 0.5 m. (2 feet) 

 or more in diameter, in alluvial lowlands; occurring under Indiana 

 conditions from cold bogs and river banks to dry sand dunes. Willows 

 are used for many purposes, among them ornament, shade, hedges, 

 posts, poles, mattresses, revetments to protect levees, baskets, fish- 

 weirs, whistles, etc., while the wood is used for charcoal, which is es- 

 pecially prized for gunpowder making, and the bark is used for tanning 

 and furnishes salicin, which is used in medicine as a substitute for 

 quinine and as a tonic and febrifuge. 



Small to large trees; leaves narrowly to broadly lanceolate, 



mostly long pointed, finely and rather closely toothed; 



flowers appearing with the leaves; capsules not hairy. 



Native trees; leaves green on both sides (No. 1) or white 



(glaucous) beneath (No. 2), and then with very long 



points and long slender twisted petioles which are 



never glandular; stamens 3-5-7 or more. 



Twigs dark green, spreading; leaves narrowly lanceolate, 



green on both sides; petioles short IS. nigra. 



Twigs yellowish, somewhat drooping; leaves broadly 



lanceolate, glaucous beneath; petioles long, twisted.. 2 S. amygdaloides. 

 European trees, cultivated for ornament and use; leaves 



always glaucous beneath; stamens always 2. 

 Teeth on edge of leaf 8-10 to each cm. (20-25 to the inch) ; 



petioles usually glandular; capsules almost sessile .... 3 S. alba. 

 Teeth on edge of leaf 6-8 per cm. (15-20 to the inch) ; peti- 

 oles usually glandular; pedicels 0.5-1 mm. long 4 S. fragilis. 



Shrubs or rarely small trees; leaves elliptical or oblanceolate, 

 short pointed; margin entire or coarsely wavy or shallow- 

 toothed; flowers before the leaves; stamens 2; capsules 

 long, hairy. 



Twigs and leaves not hairy; leaves thin 4 S. discolor. 



Twigs and sometimes the lower suface of the leaves densely 



hairy, leaves thicker 5 S. discolor 



eriocephala. 



1. Salix nigra Marshall. WILLOW. BLACK WILLOW. Plate 10. 

 Shrub or tree 5-20 m. (17-65 feet) high, dark green in mass color; 

 bark of trunk thick, rough, flaky, dark brown to nearly black; twigs 

 brittle at base, the younger pubescent and green, becoming glabrous 

 and darker with age; buds ovate, small, 2-3 mm. (Vg inch) long; 

 petioles 3-6 or 8 mm. (*/%% mcn ) I n g5 stipules small, ovate to 

 roundish; leaf blades narrowly lanceolate, acute or rounded at base, 

 long-acuminate at the apex, 6-11 cm. (2 ^-4 }/ inches) long, 7-12 



