Sandbar Willow 



193 



have two stamens; in the pistillate flowers there is a narrowly ovoid smooth ovary 

 with nearly sessile stigmas. The fruiting catkins are 5 to 7 cm. long, the smooth, 

 nearly stalkless capsules ovoid-conic, 3 to 4 mm. long. 



Its wood is preferred in England for cricket balls. 



The Blue willow, Salix cmrulea J. E. Smith, also European, has been consid- 

 erably planted for ornament, and is reported as locally established in the eastern 

 States, but scarcely naturalized; it has bluish green leaves, nearly white on the 

 under side. 



13. WEEPING WILLOW— Salix babylonica Linnaeus 



The Weeping willow, so called from its drooping branches, is of Asiatic origin, 

 but has been widely planted for ornament and for shade in Europe and North and 

 South America; it has been distributed along streams and in valleys by means of 

 its twigs, which take root readily in wet soil; it is now naturaUzed to a greater or 

 less extent locally from Massachusetts to Michigan and Virginia. The tree some- 

 times becomes 20 meters high, with a trunk up to nearly 2 meters in diameter. 



The bark is gray and rough, the young twigs slender, green to brown, smooth, 

 characteristically drooping; the winter buds are 

 sharp-pointed, light brown, 4 to 6 mm. long; 

 the leaves are linear or linear- lanceolate, long- 

 pointed, finely toothed, somewhat silky-hairy 

 when unfolding, soon smooth on both sides, 

 6 to 18 cm. long, 5 to 12 mm. wide, rather 

 bright green on the upper side, pale green be- 

 neath; their stalks are 6 to 12 mm. long, often 

 hairy, sometimes glandular toward the base of 

 the blade; the small stipules usually fall away 

 early in the season. The catkins are borne on 

 short, leafy branches of the season, flowering in 

 April or May; they are small, 5 cm. long 01 

 less, slender, with ovate-lanceolate, slightly 

 hairy bracts; there are 2 stamens in the stam- 

 inate flowers (staminate trees are apparently 

 unknown in North America) ; the ovary and smooth capsule are ovoid-conic, very 

 short-stalked, the stigmas longer than the very short style. 



The Ring willow, occasionally planted, is a form of this species with curled 

 leaves. 



14. SANDBAR WILLOW — Salix interior Rowlee 



Salix fluviatilis Sargent, not Nuttall. Salix longifolia Muhlenberg, not Lamarck 



This is a river-valley species, preferring sandy soil, ranging from Quebec to 

 Athabasca, south to Virginia, Kentucky, Nebraska, and Texas; over most of its 



Fig. 152. — Weeping Willow. 



