VIII. 2. THE GLOSSY WILLOW. 267 
straightness of its vigorous green shoots. It is found in Rox- 
bury, along the Lowell road, and for some distance along the 
brook which runs near Mr. J. A. Lowell’s house. It is there 
mingled with the yellow willow. 
Sp. 12. Tse Grossy Wittow. S. lucida. Muhlenberg. 
The leafis figured in the Annals of Botany, II, Plate 5, fig 7, andjin Michaux, 
Sylva, TI, Plate 125. 
Leaves ovate oblong ; cuspidate, acuminate, rounded and somewhat alter- 
g 5 
nate at base, sharply serrate, with glandular serratures, smooth and shining 
on both surfaces, stipules oblong or roundish, glandular-serrate ; aments ap- 
pearing with the leaves ; about three to five stamens ; scales broad-lanceolate, 
obtuse, hairy at base, toothed at the apex, smooth above; ovaries lanceolate- 
subulate, stalked, smooth; style cleft, stigmas bifid, obtuse. Outer bud-scales 
very hairy.—Pursh. II, 615; Wedld. IV, 667. 
A handsome small tree, sometimes twelve to fifteen feet 
high, and four inches diameter, usually smaller. The trunk is 
nearly smooth, and the bark externally much resembles that of 
amaple. The small branches are smooth, polished, and dark 
green. Recent shootsa shining yellow, those of the second year 
bronzed. "he leaves have a smgularly neatand definite outline, 
from one to two inches broad, by three anda half to five long. 
They are on short, compressed, smooth footstalks ; ovate-lanceo- 
late, or elliptic-lanceolate, rounded at base, tapering to a very 
long acuminate point; closely and sharply glandular-serrate, of 
a shining green above; lighter, polished and reticulate beneath. 
At the base of the leaf, on each side, are usually a few pedicellate 
glands. Stipules small, semi-circular, glandular-serrate. Buds 
long, compressed, on the recent shoots bright yellow. The 
branches, large and small, are extremely brittle near the base; 
indeed, every part 1s brittle except the recent shoots, which are 
tough, but less so than those of most other willows. 
This is the most beautiful of the willows. Hardly ever have 
I experienced more vividly the sense of beauty in inanimate 
nature, than on coming, unexpectedly, upon a low clump of 
this willow, in a little islet, on the edge of Meeting-House Pond, 
in Westminster. 
This willow is found in all parts of the State, and of New 
