SALICACE.E. 209 



2. ALNUS, Tourn. ALDER. 



1. A. inca'na, Willd. (SPECKLED or HOARY ALDER.) A 

 shrub or small tree, growing in thickets in low grounds 

 along streams. Leaves oval or ovate, rounded at the base, 

 serrate, whitish beneath. Flowers preceding the leaves in 

 early spring, from clustered catkins formed the previous 

 summer and remaining naked over winter. Fruit wingless. 



2. A. vir'idis, DC. (GREEK or MOUNTAIN ALDER.) A 

 shrub 3-8 feet high, along mountain streams. Flowers ap- 

 pearing with the leaves, the staminate catkins having 

 remained naked during the winter, the pistillate enclosed in 

 a scaly bud. Fruit with a thin wing. Northward. 



ORDER XC. SALICA'CE^E. (WILLOW FAMILY.) 



Trees or shrubs with dioecious flowers, both sorts in cat- 

 kins, one under each scale of the catkin. No calyx. Fruit 

 1-celled, many-seeded, the seeds furnished with tufts of down. 

 (Part L, section 74, for description of typical flowers.) This 

 Order comprises the Willows and Poplars. 



Synopsis of the Genera. 



1. Sallx. Trees with mostly long and pointed leaves and slender 



branches. Bracts or scales of the catkins not toothed. Stamens 

 mostly 2 under each bract, but in one or two species as many as 5 

 or 6. Stigmas short. Catkins appearing before or with the 

 leaves. 



2. Pop' u I us. Trees with broad and more or less heart-shaped leaves. 



Bracts of the catkins toothed or cut at the apex. Stamens 8-30, or 

 even more, under each scale. Stigmas long. Catkins long and 

 drooping, preceding the leaves. 



1. S ILIX, Tourn. WILLOW. 



* Catkins borne on the ends of the short lateral leafy branchlets. Scales 



yellowish, deciduous. Filaments hairy below. Trees or large 



shrubs, with taper-pointed leaves. 



1. S. nigra, Marshall. (BLACK WILLOW.) A tree with a 

 roughish black bark, growing along streams. Leaves 

 narrowly lanceolate, tapering at each end, serrate, smooth, 

 green on both sides. Stamens 3-6. Ovary short-pedicelled. 

 Sterile catkins long and narrow. 



