Pussy Willow Glaucous Willow
=Habitat and Range.=--Low, wet grounds; banks of streams, swamps, moist
hillsides.
Nova Scotia to Manitoba.
Maine,--abundant; common throughout the other New England states.
South to North Carolina; west to Illinois and Missouri.
=Habit.=--Mostly a tall shrub with several stems, but occasionally
assuming a tree-like habit, with a height of 15-20 feet and
trunk
diameter of 5-10 inches; one tree reported at Laconia, N. H., 35 feet
high (F. W. Batchelder); branches few, stout, ascending, forming a very
open, hemispherical head.
=Bark.=--Trunk reddish-brown; branches dark-colored; branchlets light
green, orange-dotted.
=Winter Buds and Leaves.=--Buds ovate-conical; apex obtuse to acute.
Leaves simple, alternate, 2-4 inches long, smooth and bright green
above, smooth and whitish beneath when 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.
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.=