Tourney's Willow 



187 



5. CALIFORNIA BLACK WILLOW - Salix laevigata Bebb 



Salix congesta (Bebb) Howell. Salix Imvigata congesta Bebb 



This tree grows along streams and lakes from southern Oregon throughout Cali- 

 fornia, extending eastward into Nevada and Utah. It sometimes becomes 15 or 16 

 meters high, with a trunk up to 6 dm. thick, but is commonly considerably smaller. 



The dark brown bark is thick and irregularly fissured; the young twigs are 

 orange-brown and vary from smooth to densely velvety-hairy; the winter buds 

 are ovoid, about 3 mm. long. The 

 leaves vary greatly in form from nar- 

 rowly lanceolate to oblong, oblanceolate 

 or even obovate, and from finely and 

 closely toothed to entire-margined, from 

 long-pointed to obtuse, and from 6 to 

 20 cm. long, the largest being found on 

 ■strong, sterile shoots, as in other wil- 

 lows; they are dark green, smooth, and 

 shining on the upper side, pale or 

 sometimes nearly white, and either 

 smooth or hairy, on the under surface; 

 their stalks are short, rarely more than 

 6 or 8 mm. long, and their ovate stip- 

 ules are usually small, and fall away 

 soon after they appear. The catkins, 

 which are borne on short, leafy branch- 

 lets of the season, flower from March 

 to May, according to latitude, are 

 from s to 10 cm. long, their axes and 

 the toothed bracts very hairy; the 

 staminate flowers usually have 5 sta- 

 mens with filaments hairy toward the base, and the pistillate flowers have a smooth, 

 ovoid-conic stalked ovary, the notched stigmas about ^as long as the short style. 

 In fruit the pistillate catkins sometimes elongate considerably, but they are often 

 short, sometimes not more than 4 cm. long; the smooth, ovoid-conic capsules are 

 4 to 6 mm. long, their slender stalks as long, or much shorter. 



The wood is soft, weak, brittle, light reddish brown, the sapwood nearly white; 

 its specific gravity is about 0.49. 



Fig. 144. — California Black Willow. 



6. TOUMEY'S WILLOW — Salix Toumeyi Britton, new species 



Salix HumboMHana Sargent, not Humboldt, Bonpland and Kunth 



Toumey's willow inhabits the shores of streams in canons of the mountains 

 of southern Arizona, and has been confused with Humboldt's willow, a native of 



