WILLOW FAMILY 



SILKY WILLOW 



Salix sericea. 



A tall willow with slender, purplish, slightly downy twigs, 

 found in swamps and along streams. Ranges from Maine to 

 Michigan and southward to Virginia. 



Leaves. Alternate, simple, two to four inches long, oblong or 

 lanceolate, narrowed or obtuse at base, serrate with glandular 

 teeth, acuminate at apex. The young leaves are densely silky- 

 pubescent, when full grown they become glabrous, dark green 

 above, paler and somewhat glaucous beneath. Petioles short, 

 sometimes glandular. Stipules narrow, deciduous. 



Flowers. May. Catkins expanding before the leaves, sessile, 

 usually with a few leafy bracts at the base, densely flowered. 

 The staminate about an inch long; the pistillate in fruit nearly 

 two inches. Fruiting capsule small, ovoid-oblong, obtuse, pu- 

 bescent. 



Salix petiolaris, the Slender Willow, is very similar in 

 general appearance to Salix sericea, only it is of a more 

 delicate type. Its home is the swamps, its range more 

 northern and western. The flowers appear in May. 



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