284 USEFUL FIBER PLANTS OF THE WORLD. 



Salcio. 



This word, used with affixes, forms the common Italian names of different species 



of osiers, or willows, used in the industrial economy. da vinchi is the osier, 



or water willow ; vitrice, the brittle willow ; viminali, the pliant willow ; 



legare, the binding willow, and many others. See Salix. 



Salix spp. 



Exogens. Salicacew. Willow trees. 



The willow family is so well known that a description of the trees is unnecessary. 

 There are many species, distributed over the northern hemisphere, and they are 

 more numerous in the Old World than the New. 



Bast Fiber. — While the largest use of the willow is in the manufacture of 

 basketry, etc., some of the western Indians make use of willow bark, specimens 

 of which are exhibited in the U. S. Nat. Mas. Dr. Palmer states in the American 

 Naturalist for October, 1878, that the willow trees along the Colorado River, Arizona, 

 yield abundance of long, soft bast, from which the Indians on this stream make 

 ropes and twine for domestic purposes, as well as sandals and mats. The females 

 generally dress scantily, only that part of the body from the waste to the knees is 

 hidden from view. This custom is observed by most of the Indian females living 

 along the Colorado River. They strip off the bark from these trees and bury it in 

 blue mud for a few days, after which it is taken out, washed clean, and dried. It is 

 now soft, pliable, and easily handled. Being cut into requisite lengths, they are 

 fastened very thickly to a belt of the wearer. 



Woody Fiber. — Several species of Salix, more commonly known as osiers, are 

 employed in the manufacture of willow ware, which includes baskets, furniture, 

 perambulators, and a variety of-other useful articles. While this manufacture is 

 more largely carried on in European countries, the'twigs of a few of our own species, 

 are so employed in this country, such as Salix purpurea, the rose, or whipcord wil- 

 low, which is mentioned in Gray's Manual, sixth edition, as " growing in low grounds, 

 and cultivated for basket rods." Other species are doubtless employed occasionally, 

 or in small local industries. 



There is hardly a tribe of Indians in North America that is not familiar with the 

 rude plaiting or weaving of withes, reeds, grasses, etc., into articles of domestic 

 economy, and several species of willow are employed by them for wickerwork, such 

 as S. cor data, S. sericea, S. petiolaris in the Eastern and Middle States, the last two of 

 real value; S. lasiandra, S. lasiolepis and S. laevigata in the Western and Pacific 

 States. Of the last named only the roots are used by the Hoopa and Klamath 

 Indians. 



In the study of the subject, one first thinks of oziers or willows as the ordinary 

 and proper material, but it is well known that our willows do not possess the soft- 

 ness and pliability which make several species of so much economic importance in 

 Europe. Even when cultivated in this country these species become woody and 

 hard. From all the information within my reach, I am led to believe that the native 

 willow most used in this country, at least west of the Rocky Mountains, is Salix 

 sessilifolia. From the region of the Hoopa and Klamath Indians of northern Cali- 

 fornia and southern Oregon to that of the Papagos of southern Arizona, this plant 

 furnishes one of the best materials for the warp of basket work. Young shoots, 2 or 

 3 feet long, are cut in the spring or early summer, stripped of their bark, and dried . 

 They are soft and remarkably flexible, sometimes quite tenuous, almost filiform. 

 This species deserves attention as one most worthy of cultivation for the production 

 of valuable ozier. In order to keep it well pruned down and provoke new growths 

 of young, tender shoots, the Indians of northern California set tire to the woods, an 

 operation likewise intended to improve the hazelnut, another highly esteemed basket 

 plant." (Dr. V. Havard.) 



The woody liber of S. lasiandra is largely used with other materials by the Pai Utea 

 and Shoshones at Ash Meadows, Nevada,, in the construction of pack baskets, water 



