SALICACEZ—WILLOW FAMILY 
WILLOW 
Salix. 
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 
stoloniferous 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 comes. 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 
4a? 
