SALICACEAE 



Black Willow 



Salix nigra, Marsh. 



HABIT. A tree 30-50 feet high, with a short trunk, 1-2 

 feet in diameter; stout, spreading branches form a broad, rather 

 irregular, open crown. Often a shrub. 



LEAVES. Alternate, simple, 3-6 inches long, y^A inch 

 broad ; lanceolate, very long-pointed, often curved at the tip ; 

 finely serrate ; thin ; bright green and rather lustrous above, paler 

 and often hairy beneath; petioles very short, more or less 

 pubescent. 



FLOWERS. April-May, with the leaves; dioecious; borne 

 in crowded, slender, hairy catkins, 1-3 inches long; calyx o; 

 corolla o; scales yellow, villous, stamens 3-6; ovary ovoid- 

 conical, short-stalked, with stigmas nearly sessile. 



FRUIT. June; ovoid-conical capsule, Y% inch long, contain- 

 ing many minute seeds which are furnished with long, silky, 

 white hairs. 



WINTER-BUDS. Terminal bud absent; lateral buds nar- 

 row-conical, acute, lustrous, red-brown, Y& inch long. 



BARK. Twigs glabrous or pubescent, bright red-brown, 

 becoming darker with age ; thick, dark brown or nearly black 

 on old trunks, deeply divided into broad, flat ridges, often be- 

 coming shaggy. 



WOOD. Light, soft, weak, close-grained, light red-brown, 

 with thin, whitish sapwood. 



DISTRIBUTION. Common throughout the state. 

 HABITAT. Banks of streams and lake-shores. 



NOTES. Branchlets very brittle at 'the base, and these, 

 broken off by the wind, are carried down stream, often catching 

 in the muddy banks and there taking root. 



