118 BALICACEAB. 



old branchlets reddish; mature leaves oblong-lanceolate to lanceolate, obtusish 

 at base, acute at apex or sometimes long-pointed, serrulate, glabrous, green 

 and shining above, pale or conspicuously glaucous beneath, 21/j to 7% in. 

 long, % to 1V4 in- wide; stipules minute and caducous or none; petioles % 

 to 4 lines Long; staminate catkins commonly flexuous, I*/, to 4% in. long; 

 pistillate catkins % to 2 in. long; scales soon spreading or reflexed; stamens 

 4 to 7 (sometimes 3) ; ovary glabrous. 



Along living streams throughout the State. 



3. S. nigra Marsh. Black Willow. Tree 20 to 40 ft. high; leaves lance- 

 "olate or linear-lanceolate, long-pointed, often falcate, serrulate, glabrous, green 

 on both surfaces, 2 to 5 in. long, 2 to 3 lines wide; petioles 1 line long; stipules 

 early deciduous; scales obovate, erect; staminate catkins 1% to 2% in. long; 

 stamens 3 to 5; pistillate catkins % to 1*4 in. long, in fruit 1 to 2% in. long, 

 becoming rather lax; ovary scantily pubescent or hoary. 



River banks : Great Valley to Southern California, thence far eastward. 



4. S. sessilifolia Nutt. Sandbar Willow. Shrub with slender stems 5 to 

 14 ft. high, or becoming a tree up to 25 ft. high; foliage silvery or becoming 

 more or less green; leaves linear, usually tapering to the acute apex and to 

 the narrow but short petiole-like base, entire, 1 to 3 in. long, 2 to 4 lines wide; 

 stipules none; staminate catkins % to 1 in. long, slender (2 lines thick), in 

 bud usually cylindric, the scales with acute green tips; pistillate catkins, % to 

 1 in. long, 3 lines thick, often not dense; ovary sessile, densely silky; style 

 present, stigmas linear. 



Abundant in stream beds of the Coast Ranges, Great Valley and Sierra 

 Nevada foothills, ranging northward into Oregon. 



5. S. longifolia Muhl. Longleaf Willow. Shrub 5 to 15 ft. high with 

 bright green foliage; leaves mostly glabrous, or sometimes minutely canescent, 

 lanceolate or linear, tapering to apex and to a short petiole at base, remotely 

 serrulate with cuspidate teeth, % to 5 in. long, 2 to 4 lines wide; catkins 

 terminal on leafy branches; staminate catkins % to 1% in. long, 2 lines thick; 

 pistillate catkins % to 1 in. long; ovary pediceled or sometimes nearly sessile, 

 glabrous; stigmas very short, sessile; scales densely woolly; fruiting catkin 

 1^4 to 2% in. long. — (S. fluviatilis, var. 1st ed.) 



Stream beds in valleys and foothills throughout the State and into the 

 mountains to 4,000 ft; also far eastward. 



6. S. lasiolepis Benth. Arroyo Willow. Shrub or tree 8 to 25 ft. high; 

 trunk bark usually smooth; leaves oblong, suborbicular, obovate or linear, acute, 

 obscurely serrulate, dull green and glabrous above, white-pubescent or pale be- 

 neath, \y-2. to 5 in. long, % to lV^ in. wide; catkins appearing before the 

 /eaves, sessile, densely silky-tomentose in the bud, suberect; scales dark; stam- 

 inate catkins % to 1% in. long; stamens li, filaments glabrous, more or less 

 united below; pistillate catkins % to 1 in. long, in fruit 1% to 2% in. long; 

 capsule glabrous or puberulent, short-pedicelcd. 



Coast Ranges, Great Valley, Sierra Nevada foothills. Our most common 

 willow along intermittent water courses in the dry hills; also occurring along 

 living st reams. 



7. S. flavescens Nutt. Nuttall Willow. Shrub 2 to 15 ft. high or a 

 small tree 25 ft. high; branchlet s with whitish or very dnrk bark; leaves broad- 

 ly obovate 01 oblong-obovate, entire, rounded at apex or shortly acute. 1 to 1 j ._, 

 (or 4) in. long, \(, to 1% in. wide, yellow green and lustrous above, yellow- 



