330 NATURAL HISTORY. 



branches with greenish-brown bark ; twigs remarkably 

 brittle. Grows into a tall tree beside water-courses ; 

 flowers pistillate or staminate, bloom in catkins. Bark 

 of the twigs bitter and astringent, and, with the leaves, 

 used in Europe instead of the Chinese herb as tea. h. 



Weeping or Drooping Willow (Salix babylonica). 

 Leaves small, linear, lanceolate, usually sharply serrate, 

 dentate ; much cultivated as an ornamental shade-tree. 

 Branches long, slender, perpendicularly pendulous, as if 

 drooping from grief, very naturally indicate the English 

 name of weeping willow, and, regarded as an emblem of 

 mourning, is generally planted beside graves. Tournc- 

 fort terms it Salix orientalis Linnaeus, however, gave 

 it the name which it now bears, in' allusion to the 137th 

 Psalm, "By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down; 

 we wept when we remembered Zion. We hanged our 

 harps upon the willows, in the midst thereof.'' Flowers 

 all pistillate. The Common Osier (Salix viminalis, L.) 

 is highly prized for basket-work. Swamp Willows, 

 etc., are varieties of the genera. All thrive best in damp 

 places. J? . 



The Black Poplar (Populus nigra). Branches erect, 

 leaves triangular, acuminate, serrate ; is a tolerably largo 

 tree. Native of Europe, where it grows in damp woods ; 

 flowers all pistillate, blooming in catkins. Wood not 

 much esteemed, h. 



The Lombardy Poplar (Populus pyramidata). Leaves 

 three-cornered, serrate ; stem sixty feet high ; branches 

 erect, forming a pyramid ; planted in streets of towns 

 and elsewhere, as ornamental. There are several rela- 

 tive species, among which are the Abele or Silver-leaf 

 Poplar (P. alba), with leaves dark green and smooth 

 above, very white, downy beneath ; the Quzkiny Aspen 



