willows: their growth, use, and importance. 27 



The wood of the male trees of the white willow is heavier than that 

 of the female trees of the same species * and on the same soil. This 

 may be due to the usually faster growth of the pistillate trees that 

 has been frequently observed. In planting to obtain wood for a 

 particular purpose this characteristic should be taken into considera- 

 tion. 



Willow wood in the sap is whitish to creamy yellow and in the 

 heart pink to reddish brown. Occasionally the heart of the black 

 willow of the lower Mississippi is a light bluish gray when dry. 



The annual rings of all willows are relatively indistinct, the wood 

 being quite uniform throughout. The rings of white and crack 

 willow are much less distinct than those of the black willow. The 

 black willow can be readily distinguished from the other two species 

 even without a hand lens, provided a smooth transverse surface is 

 cut. No clear and constant distinction was found between the white 

 and crack willows. The white willow shows a tendency toward 

 being more porous in the early wood, the pores often being larger 

 than those in the crack willow, so that the medullary rays bend 

 around them, but their character is not constant and occasionally 

 the crack willow shows the same structure. 



TO DISTINGUISH WHITE AND BLACK WILLOW WOOD. 



In the black willow wood (Salix nigra) the pores diminish consid- 

 erably in size and number toward the outer portion of the growth 

 ring, with a strong tendency toward being grouped in wavy tangen- 

 tial lines in the late wood. The heartwood is of a dirty reddish- 

 brown or grayish-brown color. In the white willow wood (Salix 

 alba vitellvna and Salix fragilis) the , pores diminish only slightly in 

 size and number toward the outer portion of the growth ring and do 

 not have the tendency toward being grouped in wavy tangential 

 lines in the late wood. The heartwood is of a clear salmon-brown 

 color. 



USES OF WILLOW WOOD. 



LUMBER. 



According to census reports and millmen in the South, willow 

 lumber has been cut in limited quantities for the last 8 or 10 years. 

 It was marketed and used locally under the name of black or brown 

 cottonwood until the last 7 years. Since then the production has 

 increased until willow 1ms found a place on the market under its 

 true name. Practically all of the material so utilized has been cut 

 from the black willow on the lower Mississippi, principally between 

 Memphis, Term., and Baton Rouge, La., although small quantities 



B. II. Piatt, "Tll<- VMi.iti'.n of Sulif ii/Iiii," Quur. Jour. l''or<' i 



