WILLOW FAMILY 



SILKY WILLOW 



Salix sericea. 



A tall willow with slender, purplish, slightly downy twigs, 

 found in swamps and along streams. Ranges from Maine to 

 Michigan and southward to Virginia. 



Leaves. — Alternate, simple, two to four inches long, oblong or 

 lanceolate, narrowed or obtuse at base, serrate with glandular 

 teeth, acuminate at apex. The young leaves are densely silky- 

 pubescent, when full grown they become glabrous, dark green 

 above, paler and somewhat glaucous beneath. Petioles short, 

 sometimes glandular. Stipules narrow, deciduous. 



Flowers. — May. Catkins expanding before the leaves, sessile, 

 usually with a few leafy bracts at the base, densely flowered. 

 The staminate about an inch long; the pistillate in fruit nearly 

 two inches. Fruiting capsule small, ovoid-oblong, obtuse, pu- 

 bescent. 



Salix petiolaris, the Slender Willow, is very similar in 

 general appearance to Salix sericea, only it is of a more 

 delicate type. Its home is the swamps, its range more 

 northern and western. The flowers appear in May. 



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