fully grown; outline
ovate-lanceolate to narrowly oblong-oval, crenulate-serrate to entire;
apex acute, base acute and entire; leafstalk short; stipules toothed or
entire.

=Inflorescence.=--March to April. Appearing before the leaves in
catkins, sterile and fertile on separate plants, occasionally both kinds
on the same plant, sessile,--sterile spreading or erect,
oblong-cylindrical, silky; calyx none; petals none; bracts entire,
reddish-brown turning to black, oblong to oblong-obovate, with long,
silky hairs; stamens 2; filaments distinct: fertile catkins spreading;
bracts oblong to ovate, hairy; style short; stigma deeply 4-lobed.

=Fruit.=--Fruiting catkins somewhat declined: capsules ovate-conical,
tomentose, stem two-thirds the length of the scale: seeds numerous.

=Horticultural Value.=--Picturesque in blossom and fruit; its value
dependent chiefly upon its matted roots for holding wet banks, and its
ability to withstand considerable shade. Sold by plant collectors;
easily propagated from cuttings.

[Illustration: PLATE XX.--Salix discolor.]

1. Leaf-buds.
2. Branch with sterile catkins.
3. Sterile flower.
4. Branch with fertile catkins.
5. Fertile flower.
6. Fruiting branch.
7. Mature leaves.

=Salix nigra, Marsh.=

BLACK WILLOW

=Habitat and Range.=--In low grounds, along streams or ponds, river
flats.

New Brunswick to western Ontario.

New England,--occasional throughout, frequent along the larger streams.

South to Florida; west to Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Indian
territory, Louisiana, Texas, southern California, and south into
Mexico.

=Habit.=--A large shrub or small tree, 25-40 feet high and 10-15 inches
in trunk diameter, attaining great size in the Ohio and Mississippi
valleys and the valley of the lower Colorado; trunk short, surmounted by
an irregular, open, often roundish head, with stout, spreading branches,
slender branchlets, and twigs brittle towards their base.

_S. nigra_, var. _falcata_, Pursh., covers about the same range as the
type and differs chiefly in its narrower, falcate leaves.

=Bark.=--Trunk rough, in young trees light brown, in old trees
dark-colored or nearly black, deeply and irregularly ridged, separated
on the surface into thick, plate-like scales; branchlets reddish-brown;
twigs bronze olive.

=Winter Buds and Leaves.=--Buds narrowly conical, acute. Leaves simple,
alternate, appearing much later than those of _S. disc