The Willows 



lanceolate, acuminate, finely serrate, with rounded bases, 3 to 6 

 inches long, ^ to i^ inches wide; pubescent at first, becoming 

 smooth, green above, pale and glaucous below; stipules leaf-like 

 in pairs, often persistent; petioles about ^ inch long. Flowers 

 before leaves; aments slender, long; scales persistent, hairy; 

 stamens 2; style short. Fruit capsules, stalked, narrowly 

 ovoid, smooth, above hairy oval scale. Preferred habitat, river 

 banks. Distribution, northern Missouri, northeastern Kansas, 

 Nebraska and western Iowa. 



Pussy Willow (Salix discolor, Muehl.) — Shrub, or small 

 tree, to 25 feet high, with stout branchlets, purplish red with 

 pubescent coating. Buds reddish, flattened, pointed. Leaves 

 oblong-lanceolate, acute at both ends, irregularly serrate, often 

 crenate, thick, 3 to 5 inches long, bright green, with pale or silvery 

 lining; midribs broad, yellow; stipules leaf-like, half-moon shaped; 

 petioles slender. Flowers, March, often showing earlier, before 

 the leaves; aments silky, oval, grey, turning yellow as flowers open. 

 Fruits aments of beaked capsules, each long pointed, on long 

 stem, with broad, hairy scale. Preferred habitat, swamps and moist 

 hillsides. Distribution, Nova Scotia to Manitoba; south to 

 Delaware and Missouri. 



This is the familiar bog willow which we rarely recognise in 

 leaf. The twigs are usually cut when the little furry catkins peep 

 out in late winter. Florists in Eastern cities buy large quantities 

 of these twigs in winter, and force them out for the early spring 

 trade. 



The Heart Willow (5. cordata), a shrub in the East, has 

 a Western variety, Macken^ieana, Hook., that assumes the tree 

 habit and size. It extends from the far North to the Rocky 

 Mountains in Idaho and west into California. The narrow 

 leaves are acute at the apex and bear minute kidney-shaped 

 stipules throughout the summer. It is an extremely variable 

 willow. 



The Hooker Willow (5. Hookeriana, Hook.) has broad, 

 oblong leaves, blunt at apex, and white below, with hoary tomen- 

 tum. It is the little willow of sand dunes and salt marshes from 

 Vancouver Island to southern Oregon. Its hoary twigs further 

 identify it. It rarely grows above 30 feet in height. 



Bebb's Willow (Salix Bebbiana, Sarg.) — Small tree, with 

 short trunk, 10 to 20 feet high, with downy twigs and smooth. 



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