=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. [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.