SALICACEiE— WILLOW FAMILY 



WILLOW 



SAHx. 



The Willows are a family of trees and shrubs which differ 

 greatly in size and habit of growth but are very much alike in 

 other respects. All have abundant watery juice, furrowed 

 scaly bark which is heavily charged with salicylic acid, soft, 

 pliant, tough wood, slender branches and large fibrous often 

 stoloniferoLis roots. These roots are remarkable for their 

 toughness, size, and tenacity of life. Willows are often 

 planted on the border of streams in order that their inter- 

 lacing roots may protect the bank against the action of the 

 water. They make the first growth on the changing, shift- 

 ing banks of western rivers, and after the soil has been made 

 sufficiently stable, the poplar coines. Frequently the roots 

 are much larger than the stem which grows from them. All 

 the buds are lateral, no absolutely terminal bud is ever 

 formed. These are covered by a single scale, inclosing at its 

 base two minute opposite buds, alternate with two, small, 

 scale-like, fugacious, opposite leaves. 



The leaves are alternate except the first pair which fall 

 when about an inch long. They are simple, feather-veined, 

 and typically linear-lanceolate. Usually they are serrate, 

 rounded at base, acute or acuminate. In color they show a 

 great variety of greens, ranging from yellow to blue. The 

 petioles are short, the stipules often very conspicuous, look- 

 ing like tiny round leaves and sometimes remaining for half 



39" 



