244 



THE WILLOW. 



of which are from two to five delicate stamens, 

 with two-lobed yellow anthers (Jig. n,) and a gland 

 containing honey. Before expansion the 

 catkin resembles a large silky bud, and 

 is afterwards more or less oblong in 

 shape. The catkin of the fertile tree is 

 nearly the same as the barren catkin, 

 but each scale contains, instead of sta- 

 mens, a single pistil with two stigmas, 

 which as it enlarges becomes an egg-shaped 

 germen (Jig. o.) of one cell and two 

 valves. The seed-vessel, when ripe splits 

 pC^^^ on its two opposite sides, the valves roll 

 back (Jig, p,) emd disclose numerous mi- 

 nute seeds, each of which is tufted with 

 , , downy or silky hair {Jig, r). Some spe- 

 ^-^^ cies of Willow are in full flower by the 

 third week in March, and whenever a 

 bright, warm day occurs after this time, the bees 

 sally forth and resort in swarms to the fragrant 

 catkins for a spring breakfast. I have noticed 

 them busily engaged as early as the ^^Snd, and 

 others have observed them yet earlier. The 

 value of Willow-bushes near hives can scarcely 

 be overstated, for this is just the season whe:. 

 the combs are likely to be exhausted, and there 

 are as yet few other flowers in bloom capable of 

 afibrding a considerable supply. 



Before the discovery of sugar, honey was far 

 more valuable than it is at present, and it appears 

 from Virgil that, in his time, Willows were 

 commonly planted in apiaries, for the special pur- 

 pose of afibrding nourishment to the bees at this 

 critical season : 



