WILLOW 
woody plant except its companion 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 asin 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 hundred 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 line. Impressions of leaves in the cre- 
taceous rocks show that it is probably one of the oldest forms 
of dicotyledonous plants. 
BLACK WILLOW 
Salix nigra. 
Banks of streams and lakes ; the common native willow that be- 
comes atree. Twenty to forty feet high. Ranges from New Bruns- 
wick to Florida, westward to the foot-hills of the Rocky Mountains 
and south into Mexico ; also appears in California. 
Bark.—Dark brown or nearly black, sometimes lighter brown, 
deeply divided into broad, flat, connected ridges. Branchlets slen- 
der, very brittle at the base, rather 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 frequently conspicuously scythe-shaped (var. fa/- 
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 semi-cordate or crescent-shaped, leaf-like, persistent, 0: 
small and deciduous. 
Flowers.—March, April; before the leaves. Catkins borne on 
short leafy branches, narrowly cylindrical, one to three inches 
long ; stamens vary 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. 
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