The Willows 



in new territory. It is one of the largest of our native species 

 when it comes to maturity. 



The Black "Willow (S. longipes, Anders.) differs from 

 S. nigra in the wider, more typically lanceolate leaf and the 

 silvery lining which lightens the foliage mass wonderfully as 

 the wind plays among the leaves. The two heart-shaped stipules 

 are usually persistent; they can always be found near the tips 

 of growing shoots, even in midsummer. 



The centre of this tree's distribution is in the Ozark Mountains. 

 Rocky banks of streams are its preferred habitat. It grows, a 

 small tree, from Washington, D. C, to Florida, and west to 

 Missouri and New Mexico. 



Sandbar Willow (Salix fluviatilis, Nutt.) — Slender tree, 20 

 to 30 feet high, or much-branched shrub. Leaves silky, becoming 

 smooth, linear-lanceolate, coarsely toothed, tapering at both ends, 

 often falcate, 2 to 4 inches long, thin yellow-green, paler beneath; 

 petioles short; midrib raised, prominent; stipules minute, leafy, 

 deciduous. Flowers in slender, silky aments on leafy side twigs. 

 Fruits ovoid-conic, sessile, scales smooth. Preferred habitat, moist 

 soil along streams. Distribution, Quebec to Northwest Territory; 

 south to Virginia, Kentucky and New Mexico. 



The sandbar willow, like S. nigra, does a good work 

 in holding in place a body of drift which without them would be 

 moved by floods. The beautifying of rivers by embowering the 

 mud flats and sandy shoals in billowy green is a distinct claim 

 this tree has to the gratitude of communities. A little tree, indeed, 

 but widely distributed, it is one of the most useful. A variety, 

 argyrophylla, with silky, downy leaf, is found from Texas west to 

 California and north to British Columbia. 



The Silver - leaved Willow {Salix sessilifolia, Nutt.), 

 with scarcely any stem for its narrow silky-lined leaves, is a 

 little tree that follows stream borders from Puget Sound south 

 to the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada. It is one of the 

 commonest willows of the coast region of southern California. 

 The hoary tomentum that clothes the opening leaves is never 

 quite lost from the under sides of the leaves. They are pale 

 yellow-green on the upper sides at maturity. 



Peach-leaf Willow (Salix amygdaloides, Anders.) — Erect, 

 straight-branched tree, 30 to 40 feet high, rarely 70 feet high. 

 Bark brown, scaly, on thick plates. Wood soft, weak, pale brown. 



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