PUSSY WILLOW 



Salix discolor Muhlenberg 



Pussy willows possess a certain fascination when we gather them 

 with their tight winter buds, early in spring, in their wild haunts, 

 and watch them expand in the warmer air of the house into fluffy 

 catkins. Out of doors they attract many bees to the early feast of pol- 

 len spread for them. The catkins are of two kinds, borne on separate 

 plants; those which bear only flowers with stamens, and the fertile 

 ones which produce later in the season myriads of silk-appendaged 

 seeds. 



Pussy willow grows in swamps and on moist hillsides from Dela- 

 ware to North Carolina and Missouri, and northward to Nova Scotia 

 and Saskatchewan. 



The sketch was made from a specimen collected near Washington, 

 District of Columbia. 



PLATE 12.2. 



