THE RETICULATE WILLOW 189 



this volume. They are very reduced structures 

 without either sepals or petals, and the male and 

 female organs are borne on separate plants. Each 

 male flower consists solely of two or more stamens, 

 in the axil of a modified leaf or bract. Each female 

 flower is composed of a single carpel, also in the axil 

 of a bract. Both types of flower also contain a lioney 

 gland. The flowers, whether male or female, and the 

 bracts, are arranged in dense spikes called catkins. 



The photograph on Plate XXXVIL is of a male 

 plant of the Eeticulate Willow. The erect male 

 catkins are borne on rather long, leafless stalks, 

 springing from the ends of branches. The bracts of 

 the catkins are brown in colour. The withered 

 stamens, of which there are two to each flower in this 

 species, can just be seen with the use of a hand-lens, 

 the anthers projecting beyond the bracts. The 

 catkins were past their prime when the photograph 

 was taken. 



The female flowers produce a large number of 

 very small seeds. Each seed has a little tuft of hairs 

 at the base, which helps it to fly on a windy day and 

 so distributes it far from the parent. It will be often 

 noticed that the Willow carpets growing on moraines 

 are covered with a whitish fluff', somewhat resembling 

 cotton-wool. This fluft' consists uf enormous numbers 

 of seeds tangled together by tlieir hairs. The Alpine 

 Willow-herbs {Epilobium, natural order Onagracea*) 

 produce similar seeds, with haii's at the base, wliich 

 often become entangled in nuich the same way. 



