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BLACK WILLOW (Salix nigra Marsh.) 



THE black willow is common along streams 

 throughout the State except in the high moun- 

 tains. It rarely comes to be over 50 feet in height 

 and is frequently found growing singly or in clumps 

 along the water courses. In winter the easily sepa- 

 rable, bright reddish-brown or golden, naked twigs 

 are quite conspicuous. 



The leaves are from 3 to 6 

 inches long and less than one- 

 half an inch wide ; the tips are 

 very much tapered and the en- 

 tire margins finely toothed. 

 The leaves are bright green on 

 both sides, turning pale yellow 

 in the early autumn. 



The flowers are in catkins, 

 the male and female on sepa- 

 rate trees. The fruit is a pod 

 bearing numerous minute seeds 

 which are furnished 

 with long silky down, 

 enabling them to be 

 blown long distances. 



The bark is deeply di- 

 vided into broad, flat 

 ridges which separate 

 into thick plate-like 

 scales. On old trees it 

 becomes very shaggy. 

 In color it varies from 

 light brown tinged 

 with orange to dark 

 brown or nearly black. 

 The wood is soft, light and not strong. A high 

 grade of charcoal, used in the manufacture of gun- 

 powder, is obtained from willow wood, and it is 

 the chief wood used in the manufacture of artificial 

 limbs. 



There are many species, or kinds, of willows not 

 easily distinguished. They are of high value in 

 checking soil erosion and waste along stream banks, 

 for which purpose they should be more extensively 

 grown. 3^ 



BLACK WILLOW 

 Two-thirds natural size. 



