THE WILLOWS OF OHIO. 309 



be distinguished by its sharp fine serration contrasted with the 

 distant blunt and often coarse teeth of the pussy willow. The 

 habits of the two are sufficiently different to put aside all confu- 

 sion when the plants are seen together. From S. sericea it can 

 generally be distinguished by the absence of the silvery white 

 pubescence on the under surface. The shape of the leaves is also 

 different, in most cases in that species the leaf is widest near the 

 middle ; in this it is widest below the middle. Salix cordata also 

 lacks the peculiar leaf habit of Salix sericea. The flowers come 

 very early from small pussies. As they mature the carpellate 

 aments come to be supported by large leaves and much of the 

 wool of the pussy drops off from the fruiting rachis. The anthers 

 just before the elongation of the filaments are almost as red as 

 those of Salix sericea. The capsules are green and glabrous, 

 the stigmas frequently red. 



Salix cordata angustata Anders, includes the narrow leaved 

 forms of the species. In Ohio most plants have leaves wider 

 than those of the typical angustata but decidedly narrower than 

 the typical specific form. It is therefore difficult to distinguish 

 two forms in our area and since the leaf variation may be con- 

 sidered as accidental and without significance it is perhaps hardly 

 advisable to separate them. 



Salix cordata is abundant all over the state. Its usual 

 habitat is along streams while the other species with a similar 

 habit and leaf are typically swamp plants. This is not to say 

 that the present species never grows in swamps nor that 5. sericea 

 and 5. discolor never grow along river banks — for they do — but 

 that they attain their best development in the habitats given 

 and are usually found there. 



To increase the difficulty of dealing with Salix cordata it 

 hybridises very freely- It forms with 5. Candida a fine series of 

 connecting forms. With 5. sericea hybrids occur though not so 

 frequently as has been supposed. It is also said to mix with S. 

 discolor but I have seen no unquestioned specimens from Ohio. 



Salix adenophylla Hooker. Furry Willow. 



A straggling shrub of about the same size as 5. cordata 

 which it resembles most closely. It looks like a xerophvtK' 

 adaptation of that species. The leaves are thicker, shorter and 

 broader, ovate, more or less tomentose on both sides, with an 

 emarginate base, very sharply serrate or entire; ordinarily in 

 rank growth with the leaves closely crowded on the twigs and 



Plate XIV. Salix adenophylla. 



Typical leaves, flowers and fruit, showing fruiting aments with and 

 without bracts; a bract from a fruiting anient in the upper corner; natural 

 size; capsule enlarged three times. 



