WILLOW 



woody plant except its coiupaiiion the birch. It trails upon 

 the ground or rises one hundred feet into the air. In North 

 America it follows the water-courses to the limit of the tem- 

 perate zone, enters the tropics, crosses the equator and appears 

 in the mountains of Peru and Chili. In the old world its range 

 is quite as extensive as in the new. It creeps or runs or stands, 

 looks like a weasel or is backed like a camel according to its 

 surroundings. The books record one hundretl and sixty' 

 species in the world and these sport and hybridize to their 

 own content and to the despair of botanists. Then, too, it 

 comes of an ancient hne. Impressions of leaves in the cre- 

 taceous rocks show that it is probably one of the oldest forms 

 of dicotyledonous plants. 



BLACK WILLOW 



Sd/ix nii^n'a. 



Banks of streams and lakes ; the common native willow that be- 

 comes a tree. Twenty to forty feet high. Ranges from New Bruns- 

 wick to Florida, westward to the foot-hills of the Rocky Mountains 

 and south into Me.xico ; also appears in California. 



Bark. — Dark brou-n or nearly black, sonietimes lighter brown, 

 deeply divided into broad, flat, connected ridges. Branchlets slen- 

 der, very brittle at the base, ratlrer bright reddish brown. 



Wood. — Light reddish brown, sapwood nearly white ; light, soft, 

 close-grained and weak. Sp. gr., .4456 ; weight of cu. ft., 27.77 lbs. 



Winter Buds. — Acute, small, reddish brown. 



Leaves. — Alternate, lanceolate, three to six inches long, often 

 curved at tip, and frecjuently conspicuously scythe-shaped (var./<7/- 

 cata), round or wedge-shaped base, serrate, and the entire leaf 

 above the middle gradually narrowed to a tapering tip. Feather- 

 veined. Involute in bud, silky when unfolding, when full grown 

 are a bright pale, shining green above, pale green beneath. In au- 

 tumn light yellow, or fall without changing. Petioles short, slender. 

 Stipules seini-cordate or crescent-shaped, leaf-like, persistent, or 

 small and deciduous. 



Flowers. — March, April ; before the leaves. Catkins borne on 

 short leafy branches, narrowly cylindrical, one to three inches 

 long ; stamens \'ary from three to six; ovary is ovate, smooth, apex 

 stigmatic. The fruiting catkins vary from an inch and a half to 

 three inches in length. 



395 



