WILLOWS. 
57 
tains; others attain an elevation of 50 or 60 feet. The 
wood is usually light and close-grained; the twigs of 
several species, used by basket-makers, are remarkable 
for their pliability. The bark of most of the species 
contains a peculiar vegetable principle, called salicine , 
which, for intermittent fevers, is nearly as serviceable 
as Peruvian bark, and the down of the seeds has 
been manufactured into a coarse paper. Most of the 
species affect wet or humid situations, being common 
on the immediate borders of brooks and rivers, which 
they fringe with a luxuriant and agreeable vegetation. 
The flowers generally precede the appearance of the 
leaves, and though not beautiful, they are seen with 
delight, as the earliest harbingers of our northern spring. 
The species, more than 200 in number, present nearly 
the same general form of foliage, with the margin entire 
or serrated; the catkins are lateral or terminal, and the 
stamens are too variable in number to admit of a classi- 
fication by them; there are some with only 1, a good 
many with 2, others with 3, 4, 5, or even 9 or 10. The 
capsules, though small, afford the best traits of specific 
distinction. The leaves put on various appearances, 
and even outlines, in the progress of their growth, and 
the Willows justly rank among botanists as the most 
protean and difficult family of plants to discriminate in 
the northern hemisphere. In our tour across the con- 
tinent we have met with some remarkable species, four 
or five of which become trees; we shall offer descrip- 
tions of the whole, but only give figures of those which 
rank among arborescent species. 
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