THE WILLOW FAMILY. in 



" Willows are weak, yet they bind other wood." 



Of inesLimable value to the opening season are the willows, for very early 

 they put on their spring dress of silver sheen and thrust out buds of green, 

 or combinations of colour almost too subtle to be accurately described. 

 This fluffy little one of the shrubs which grows through the barren and dry 

 soil of mountains blooms very early in the season; its small rounded 

 aments, as downy and soft as young ducklings, being well developed long 

 before the woolly leaves awake. 



S. hiijjiilis, prairie willow, grows southward as far as North Carolina and 

 Tennessee. It is also a shrub of from two to eight feet high and has 

 extremely pretty foliage. In outline the leaves, from about two to four 

 inches long, are oblong or oblanceolate and covered underneath as are 

 the petioles with a grey, persistent tomentum. Along the margins they are 

 entire, or slightly denticulate while the tiny stipules are pointed. In April 

 and May, before the leaves are seen, long sprays of both sorts of aments 

 are unfolding. They are short and sessile ; the staminate ones casting 

 abroad a golden glow from the protruding anthers, and the pistillate ones 

 showing a silver sheen. 



S. scricea, silky willow, which remains always a shrub, is seen along the 

 banks of streams and in swamps as far southward as North Carolina. Its 

 young twigs show vivid colours of purple and red while the unfolding leaves 

 are, owing to their pubescence, a silver-grey. In drying they turn to black, 

 or brown. This species is one which the Indians used largely to make 

 their baskets. 



S. nigra, black willow, a slender tree growing sometimes over a hundred 

 feet high, is one of the most variable of the genus in regard to the shape 

 and character of its leaves; often those that are entire and those that are 

 serrate being found closely together. On both sides, however, they are 

 noticeably a bright green. Along streams it mostly occurs, where, as is one 

 of the functions of the willows, it plays an important part in holding the 

 soil together. The roots of this species which are intensely bitter are 

 gathered and made into a decoction for purifying the blood. 



COTTONWOOD. CAROLINA POPLAR. NECKLACE 



POPLAR. {Plate XL.) 



Populus deIto)dcs. 



Bark: granite-grey; smooth when yonng hut becoming rough ami furrowed 

 with age and breaking off in short, flaky pieces. Braiiclili-ts : greenish. Liaf- 

 buds: glutinous, with a substance like balsam. Leaves: with stout petioles which 



