SALICACE^E. (WILLOW FAMILY.) 463 



ovary densely silky. Low meadows and river-banks : common. A large shrub 

 or small tree, 8 - 1 5 high. Young leaves commonly obtuse and pubescent, 

 at length becoming smooth and whitish-glaucous beneath. Stipules on vigor- 

 ous shoots equalling the petiole, often inconspicuous. Young catkins 1 ' long, 

 glossy, blackish with the conspicuous scales, elongating in fruit to 2|-'. S. eri- 

 ocephala, Michx.. admitted in former editions, is of this species. 



* * Ovary stalked, silky-hoary and shining : catkins with a few small leaf-like bracts 



at their base: leaves finely and evenly serrate, silky-gray or glaucous beneath, 

 drying dark : stipules varying from linear to semilunar, toothed, very deciduous. 

 Shrubs, 3 -10 high. 



5. S. sericea, Marshall. ( SILKY W.) Leaves lanceolate, pointed, downy 

 above, grayish underneath with short silky hairs ; sterile catkins small, globular ; 

 the fertile cylindrical, closely flowered ; scales obtuse, round-obovate, as long as the 

 stalk of the densely-silky ovoid ovary ; stigma sessile. (S. grisea, Willd.) Sandy 

 river-banks : common. Fertile catkins, at length 1' long; the pods not spread- 

 ing or elongating in fruit, thus appearing sessile. 



6. S. petiolaris, Smith. (PETIOLED W.) Leaves lanceolate, pointed, 

 smooth above, slightly silky beneath when young, at length smooth and glaucous ; fer- 

 tile catkins ovoid-cylindrical ; scales acute, very hairy, scarcely as long as the stalk 

 of the silky tapering ovary ; style distinct; stigma 2-cleft. (S. rosmarinifolia, and 

 S. fuscata, Pursh. ?) Same situations as the last, which this resembles ; but 

 the mature leaves are not silky beneath, nor so blackish in drying ; the scales 

 not so dark, and clothed with longer white hair ; fertile catkins shorter and 

 broader ; the pods spreading and showing the stalks. 



* * * Ovary sessile or almost so : downy : catkins bracted at the base. Small trees. 



*- Filaments and often the reddish anthers united; so as to appear as one. 



7. S. PURptJREA, L. (PURPLE W.) Leaves oblanceolate, pointed, smooth, 

 minutely and sparingly toothed ; catkins cylindrical ; scales round and concave, 

 very black ; stigmas nearly sessile ; ovary sessile. (S. Lambertiana, Pursh.) 

 Low grounds. Twigs olive-colored or reddish. (Adv. from Eu.) 



H *- Filaments separate. 



8. S. VIMINALIS, L. (BASKET OSIER.) Leaves linear-lanceolate, very long, 

 (3' -6'), taper-pointed, entire or obscurely crenate, lustrous white and satiny be- 

 neath ; sterile catkins oblong, the fertile cylindrical, silky-hairy ; style elongated ; 

 stigmas linear, mostly entire. Wet meadows. Considered the best species 

 for basket-work. S. Smithiana, Willd. (thought to be a hybrid of this with 

 some other species), differing principally in the somewhat broader leaves, is 

 also occasionally met with. (Adv. from Eu.) 



2. Catkins lateral, with 4-5 leajy bracts at the base, appearing with or before the 

 leaves in May or June : inner membrane of the scales of flowering buds separating 



from the cartilaginous exterior, sometimes raised on the apex of the bursting cat- 

 kins : ovary slender-stalked, smooth (under a lens granular, with occasionally a 



few short hairs at the base) : stamens 2 : scales dark or black, hairy, persistent. 



9. S. COrdata, Muhl. (HEART-LEAVED W.) Leaves lanceolate or ovate- 

 lanceolate, heart-shaped, truncate, or even acute at base, taper-pointed, sharply 



