328 WEEDS AND USEFUL PLANTS. 



SERRULATE ALNUS. Common Alder. Candle Alder. 



Stem 3-10 or 12 feet high, and half an inch -1 or 2 inches in diameter, with crooked 

 and rather rigid branches. Leaves 2-4 inches long, strongly nerved, sub-plicate, thick 

 and subcoriaceous, smoothish ; petioles about half au inch long. Staminate aments one and 

 a half to near 3 inches long, cylindrical, slender, flaccid, pendulous and sub-fasciculate 

 near the ends of the branches ; scales reddish-brown ; anthers yellow. Pistillate aments 

 half an inch to near an inch long, oblong, rigid, dark purplish-brown, persistent, on short 

 lateral branches below the staminate ones when in flower, bristled with the dark-purple 

 exserted stigmas. 



Swamps and margins of rivulets : throughout the United States. Fl. March - April. 

 Fr. October. 



Obs. This shrub is of little or no value, and is only noticeable as a 

 frequent intruder in swampy meadows, and along rivulets, where, if 

 neglected, the bushy growth soon gives the premises a slovenly appear- 

 ance. It is true, the Alders often make a comfortable shade for the 

 trout, in the little pools of our meadow rivulets ; but the tidy farmer 

 likes to keep even the margins of those streams clear of weeds and 

 bushes. The Speckled Alder (A. incana, Willd.) is found in similar 

 situations in New-England and northward. It is distinguished from the 

 Common Alder by the polished appearance of its bark, and the whitened 

 under surface of its leaves. 



ORDER LXX. SALICA'CE^E, (WILLOW FAMILY.) 



Trees or shrubs, with alternate simple leaves, persistent and leaf-like or scaly and deciduous 

 stipules and dioecious flowers in aments with 1-tlowcred bracts. Calyx and corolla none. Sta- 

 mens 1-many. Ovary 1-celled, or imperfectly 2-celled, mtmy-oculed ; styles 2, very short, 

 or more or less united ; stigmas 2-lobed. Fruit a 2-valved pod with numerous seeds, 

 clothed with a long silky down. 



1. SA'LIX, Tournef. WILLOW. 



[The ancient classical name.] 



Aments with the scales or bracts entire. STAMINATE FL. of 2 - 6 stamens 

 accompanied by 1 or 2 little glands. PISTILLATE FL. with a small 

 gland at the base of the ovary on the inner side ; stigmas short. Trees 

 or shrubs with numerous round flexible branches ; leaves usually long and 

 narrow, entire or glandular-serrate, from buds covered by a single scale. 

 * Aments appearing before the leaves, lateral and sessile : stamens 2. 



1. S. VIMINA'LIS, L. Leaves linear lanceolate, very long and taper- 

 pointed, white and satiny beneath ; ovary sessile, long and narrow, 

 woolly or silky. 

 Osier. Basket Willow. 



A large shrub or small bushy tree, with long, straight and slender branches, the young 

 twigs yellowish and pubescent. Leaves 3-6 inches long, of a satiny lustre beneath. Aments 

 cylindrical ovoid, densely clothed with long silky hair. 



Wet meadows and cultivated. Native of Europe. Fl. April. 



Obs. This species, the common Osier of Europe, is cultivated to some 

 extent for its long flexible branches which are wrought into baskets. 



