84 TREES 



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narrow leaves that seem fairly to drip from the pendulous 

 twigs. (See illustration, page 55.) The foliage has a 

 wonderful lightness and cheerfulness of expression, despite 

 its weeping habit. 



The Pussy Willow 



S. discolor, Muehl. 



The pussy willow is the familiar bog willow, whose gray, 

 silky catkins appear in earliest spring. A walk in the 

 woods in late February often brings us the charming sur- 

 prise of a meeting with this little tree, just when its gray 

 pussies are pushing out from their brown scales. We cut 

 the twigs and bring them home and watch the wonderful 

 color changes that mark the full development of the 

 flowers. Turning them in the light, one sees under the 

 sheen of silky hairs the varied and evanescent hues that glow 

 in a Hungarian opal. In midsummer a pussy willow tree is 

 lost among the shrubby growth in any woods. It is only 

 because it leads the procession of the spring flowers that 

 every one knows and loves it. {See illustrations, pages 86-87,) 



THE HORNBEAMS 



Two genera of little trees in the same family with the 

 birches are frequently met in the woods, often modestly 

 hiding under the larger trees. One is the solitary repre- 

 sentative of its genus: the other has a sister species. 



The hornbeams grow very slowly and their wood is close- 

 grained, heavy, and hard. In flexibility, strength, and 

 ability to stand strain, it rivals steel. Before metals so 



