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DUSKY WILLOW. 
SALIX melanopsis , foliis lineari-lanceolatis serrulatis gla- 
bris basi attenuatis vix petiolatis, stipulis nullis , amentis 
cosetaneis diandris, squamis striatis obtusis, capsulis gla- 
bris lanceolatis subsessilibus. 
This species, which I have called Dusky Willow from 
the dark appearance it assumes in drying, we met with 
at our station called Fort Hall, in the plains of the 
Rocky Mountains, on the alluvial lands of Lewis river 
of the Shoshonee, not growing in masses but scattered 
over the banks of the river in the more elevated situa- 
tions, and there attaining the magnitude of a small tree 
12 to 15 feet high, with a spreading summit, and when 
in flower forming a very elegant object. It is closely 
related to the Triandrous Willow of Europe, ( Salix 
triandra,) but still sufficiently distinct. It never, like 
that species, becomes a considerable tree, but more 
resembles in its magnitude and mode of growth our 
common Black Willow (S. nigra). The wood is white 
and close grained as in that species: the young branches 
appear blackish-brown in a dead state, and the young 
leaves appear also very dark, they are about an inch 
and a half long, and about three lines wide, attenuated 
at the base, so as to present no distinct petiole, acute 
above, with minute serratures; there are no hairs at 
the base of the bud, as in S. triandra. The male flow- 
ering branchlets are provided with five or six leaves; the 
catkins linear and elongated, with dusky pubescent 
scales, marked each with about five striatures. The 
female catkins are rather short, and the fruit smooth, 
