The Manual of the Botany of the Northern United States Part 156

Q. Ph.e.l.lOS RUBRA (?) or COCCINEA (?) (Q. heterophylla, _Michx._); Staten Island and N. J. to Del. and N. C. (BARTRAM'S OAK.)

Q. Ph.e.l.lOS NIGRA (Q. Rudkini, _Britt._); N. J. (_Rudkin_).

Q. ILICIFOLIA COCCINEA (?); Uxbridge, Ma.s.s. (_Robbins._)

7. CASTaNEA, Tourn. CHESTNUT.

Sterile flowers interruptedly cl.u.s.tered in long and naked cylindrical catkins; calyx mostly 6-parted; stamens 8--20; filaments slender; anthers 2-celled. Fertile flowers few, usually 3 together in an ovoid scaly p.r.i.c.kly involucre; calyx with a 6-lobed border crowning the 3--7-celled 6--14-ovuled ovary; abortive stamens 5--12; styles linear, exserted, as many as the cells of the ovary; stigmas small. Nuts coriaceous, ovoid, enclosed 2--3 together or solitary in the hard and thick very p.r.i.c.kly 4-valved involucre. Cotyledons very thick, somewhat plaited, cohering together, remaining underground in germination.--Leaves strongly straight-veined, undivided. Flowers appearing later than the leaves, cream-color; the catkins axillary near the end of the branches, wholly sterile or the upper ones androgynous with the fertile flowers at the base. (The cla.s.sical name, from that of a town in Thessaly.)

1. C. satva, Mill., var. Americana. (CHESTNUT.) A large tree, _leaves oblong-lanceolate, pointed_, serrate with coa.r.s.e pointed teeth, acute at base, when mature _smooth and green both sides_; nuts 2 or 3 in each involucre, therefore flattened on one or both sides, very sweet. (C.

vesca, var., of the Manual.)--Rocky woods and hillsides, S. Maine to Del., along the mountains to N. Ala., and west to S. Mich., S. Ind., and Tenn.

2. C. pumila, Mill. (CHINQUAPIN.) A spreading shrub or small tree; _leaves oblong, acute_, serrate with pointed teeth, _whitened-downy beneath_; involucres small, often spiked; the ovoid pointed nut scarcely half as large as a common chestnut, very sweet, solitary, not flattened.--Rich hillsides and borders of swamps, S. Penn. to Fla., west to S. Ind. and Tex.

8. f.a.gUS, Tourn. BEECH.

Sterile flowers in small heads on drooping peduncles, with deciduous scale-like bracts; calyx bell-shaped, 5--7-cleft; stamens 8--16; filaments slender; anthers 2-celled. Fertile flowers usually in pairs at the apex of a short peduncle, invested by numerous awl-shaped bractlets, the inner coherent at base to form the 4-lobed involucre; calyx-lobes 6, awl shaped; ovary 3-celled with 2 ovules in each cell; styles 3, thread-like, stigmatic along the inner side. Nuts sharply 3-sided, usually 2 in each urn-shaped and soft-p.r.i.c.kly coriaceous involucre, which divides to below the middle into 4 valves. Cotyledons thick, folded and somewhat united; but rising and expanding in germination.--Trees, with a close and smooth ash-gray bark, a light horizontal spray, and undivided strongly straight-veined leaves, which are open and convex in the tapering bud and plaited on the veins.

Flowers appearing with the leaves, the yellowish staminate flowers from the lower, the pistillate from the upper axils of the leaves of the season. (The cla.s.sical Latin name, from f???, _to eat_, in allusion to the esculent nuts.)

1. F. ferruginea, Ait. (AMERICAN BEECH.) Tree 75--100 high; leaves oblong-ovate, taper-pointed, distinctly and often coa.r.s.ely toothed; petioles and midrib soon nearly naked; p.r.i.c.kles of the fruit mostly recurved or spreading.--N. Scotia to Fla., west to Wisc., E. Ill., Mo., and Tex.

ORDER 104. SALICaCEae. (WILLOW FAMILY.)

_Dicious trees or shrubs, with both kinds of flowers in catkins, one to each bract, without perianth; the fruit a 1-celled and 2--4-valved pod, with 2--4 parietal or basal placentae, bearing numerous seeds furnished with long silky down._--Style usually short or none; stigmas 2, often 2-lobed. Seeds ascending, anatropous, without alb.u.men. Cotyledons flattened.--Leaves alternate, undivided, with scale-like and deciduous, or else leaf-like and persistent, stipules. Wood soft and light; bark bitter.

1. Salix. Bracts entire. Flowers with small glands, disks none. Stamens few. Stigmas short. Buds with a single scale.

2. Populus. Bracts lacerate. Flowers with a broad or cup-shaped disk.

Stamens numerous. Stigmas elongated. Buds scaly.

1. SaLIX, Tourn. WILLOW. OSIER. (By M. S. BEBB, Esq.)

Bracts (_scales_) of the catkins entire. Sterile flowers of 3--10, mostly 2, distinct or united stamens, accompanied by 1 or 2 small glands. Fertile flowers also with a small flat gland at the base of the ovary; stigmas short.--Trees or shrubs, generally growing along streams, with terete and lithe branches. Leaves mostly long and pointed, entire or glandularly toothed. Buds covered by a single scale, with an inner adherent membrane (separating in n. 14). Catkins appearing before or with the leaves. (The cla.s.sical Latin name.)

-- 1. _Aments borne on short lateral leafy branchlets; scales yellowish, falling before the capsules mature; filaments hairy below, all free; style very short or obsolete; stigmas thick, notched. Trees or large shrubs; leaves taper-pointed._

[*] _Leaves closely serrate with inflexed teeth; capsules glabrous._

[+] _Stamens 3--5 or more._

[++] _Trees 15--50 high, with rough bark and slender twigs; no petiolar glands; sterile aments elongated, narrowly cylindrical; flowers somewhat remotely subverticillate; scales entire, short and rounded, crisp-villous on the inside._

1. S. ngra, Marsh. (BLACK WILLOW.) _Leaves narrowly lanceolate, very long-attenuate from near the roundish or acute base to the usually curved tip_, often downy when young, at length _green and glabrous_ except the petiole and midrib; stipules large, semicordate, pointed and persistent, or small, ovoid and deciduous; fruiting aments (1--3' long) more or less dense; capsules ovate-conical, shortly pedicelled.--Banks of streams and lakes, bending over the water; common.--Var. FALCaTA, Torr. Leaves narrower and scythe-shaped--Var. WaRDI, Bebb. Leaves broader, often 1' wide, glaucous and veined beneath; stipules large, round-reniform; aments long, loosely flowered; capsules globose-conical, long-pedicelled. Rocky islands of the Potomac (_Ward_); Falls of the Ohio (_Short_); Mo. The leaves alone are easily mistaken for those of n. 14.--A hybrid of this species with S. alba, var. vitellina, is found in Wayne Co., N. Y. (_E. L. Hankenson_).

2. S. amygdalodes, Anders. _Leaves lanceolate or ovate-lanceolate_, 2--4' long, attenuate-cuspidate, _pale or glaucous beneath; petioles long and slender_; stipules minute, very early deciduous; _fertile aments becoming very loose in fruit_ from the lengthening of the slender pedicels.--Central N. Y. (_Dudley_) to Mo.; common westward.

[++][++] _A shrub or small bushy tree, 6--15 high, with smooth bark and rather stout polished twigs; petioles glandular; sterile aments thick, oblong-cylindrical, densely flowered; stamens commonly 5; scales dentate, hairy at base, smooth above._

3. S. lucida, Muhl. (s.h.i.+NING W.) Leaves ovate-lanceolate or narrower, tapering to a very long ac.u.minate point, at length coriaceous, smooth and s.h.i.+ning both sides; stipules small, oblong; fruiting aments often persistent, the capsules becoming rigid and polished, as in the nearly allied S. pentandra of Europe.--Banks of streams, N. Eng. to Penn., west and northward. A beautiful species on account of its showy staminate aments and large glossy leaves.

[+][+] _Stamens mostly 2; capsules subsessile or very shortly pedicelled; leaves lanceolate, long-ac.u.minate._

S. FRaGILIS, L. (CRACK WILLOW.) _Leaves green and glabrous_, pale or glaucous beneath, 3--6' long; stipules when present half-cordate; stamens rarely 3--4; _capsule long-conical, shortly pedicelled_.--A tall and handsome tree, which was planted at an early day about Boston and elsewhere.--The var. DECiPIENS, Smith, with yellowish-white or crimson twigs, buds black in winter, and smaller and brighter green leaves, ought perhaps to be excluded, the plant so named by Barratt, etc., being one of the hybrids mentioned below. (Adv. from Eu.)

S. aLBA, L. (WHITE W.) _Leaves ashy-gray or silky-white on both sides_, except when old, 2--4' long; stipules ovate-lanceolate, deciduous; capsules ovate-conical, sessile or nearly so.--Var. CaeRuLEA, Koch; twigs olive; old leaves smooth, glaucous beneath, dull bluish green.--Var. VITELLNA, Koch; twigs yellow or reddish; old leaves glabrous above.--A familiar tree of rapid growth, attaining a height of 50--80. The typical form, with olive twigs and old leaves silky on both sides, is rarely found with us, but the var. VITELLINA is common. Pure S. FRAGILIS is also scarce, but a host of hybrids between the two, representing S. viridis, _Fries_, S. Russelliana, _Smith_, etc., are the commonest of introduced willows. These forms are rendered almost inextricable by a further cross, by no means rare, with our native S.

lucida. (Adv. from Eu.)

S. BABYLoNICA, Tourn. (WEEPING W.) Extensively planted for ornament, and in some places widely spread along river-banks and lake-sh.o.r.es by the drifting of detached limbs. (Adv. from Eu.)

[*][*] _Leaves remotely denticulate with projecting teeth; stamens 2; capsule glabrous or silky._

4. S. longiflia, Muhl. Leaves linear-lanceolate, 2--4' long, tapering at each end, nearly sessile, more or less silky when young, at length smooth and green both sides; stipules small, lanceolate, deciduous; aments linear-cylindric, often cl.u.s.tered at the ends of the branchlets; capsule shortly pedicelled; stigmas large, sessile.--Found sparingly along the Atlantic coast from Maine to the Potomac; common westward. A shrub, rooting extensively in alluvial deposits and forming dense clumps. This species is a peculiar American type, and exceedingly variable; the earliest leaves after germination pinnately lobed.

-- 2. _Aments lateral or terminal, with or without bracts; scales persistent, colored at the tip; stamens 2 (usually 1 in n. 19), with glabrous filaments (united and hairy in_ S. purpurea); _shrubs or small trees._

[*] _Capsules tomentose._

[+] _Pedicels 3--6 times the length of the gland; style medium or none._

[++] _Large shrubs or small trees (8--15 high); leaves obovate or elliptic-lanceolate, 2--4' long, acute or ac.u.minate, more or less obscurely and irregularly serrate, thin becoming rigid, glaucous beneath; fertile aments oblong-cylindric, 2--3' long, loosely flowered._

5. S. rostrata, Richardson. _Leaves dull green and downy above_, stoutly veined and _soft-hairy beneath_, serrate, crenate or subentire; stipules when present semi-cordate, toothed, acute; _aments appearing with the leaves_, the sterile narrowed at base, pale yellow; capsules tapering to a very long slender beak; _pedicels thread-like, much exceeding the pale, rose-tipped, linear, thinly villous scales_; style scarcely any; stigma-lobes entire or deeply parted. (S. livida, var. occidentalis, _Gray_.)--Moist or dry ground, N. Eng. to Penn., and far west and northward. Not spreading from the root but having rather the habit of a small tree, with a distinct trunk.

6. S. discolor, Muhl. (GLAUCOUS W.) _Leaves smooth and bright green above, soon smooth beneath_, irregularly crenate-serrate, the serratures remote at base, closer, finer and becoming obsolete toward the point; stipules ' long or more, and sharply toothed, or small and nearly entire; _aments closely sessile, thick, oblong-cylindrical_, 1' long or more, _appearing before the leaves_ in earliest spring; _scales dark red or brown, becoming black, copiously clothed with long glossy hairs_; style short but distinct.--Var. ERIOCePHALA, Anders. Aments more densely flowered and more silvery silky; leaves sometimes retaining a ferruginous p.u.b.escence beneath even when fully grown.--Var. PRINODES, Anders. Aments more loosely flowered, less silky; capsules more thinly tomentose; style longer; stigma-lobes laciniate; leaves narrower. (S.

prinoides, _Pursh._) Includes narrow-leaved forms of the type, and others which are probably hybrids with S. cordata.--Low meadows and river-banks, common. The just expanding leaves are often overspread with evanescent ferruginous hairs.

[++][++] _Upland grayish shrubs, 1--8 high; leaves oblanceolate, pointed, the lowest obtuse, downy above becoming glabrate, beneath glaucous, rugose-veined and softly tomentose, the margin revolute, undulate-entire; aments ovoid or oblong, closely sessile, appearing before the leaves, naked at base; capsules rather shortly pedicelled, greenish or reddish, spreading; scales dark red or brownish; style distinct; stigmas bifid._

7. S. humilis, Marsh. (PRAIRIE W.) _Leaves oblanceolate or oblong-lanceolate_, the lowest obovate; _stipules medium-sized_, semi-ovate, entire or oftener toothed; _petioles distinct_; aments often recurved, about 1' long.--Dry plains and barrens, common. A shrub, 3--8 high, varying much in the size and shape of the leaves. Hybrids with n. 6 have equally broad and large but duller green leaves, softly tomentose beneath and with shorter petioles, the aments equally thick but usually recurved, and the capsules on shorter pedicels. Small forms apparently pa.s.s into the next.

8. S. tristis, Ait. (DWARF GRAY W.) _Leaves small_ (1--2' long), _crowded, linear-oblanceolate_, tapering to a _very short petiole; stipules minute, deciduous_; aments very small, globular or oval, about ' long in fruit.--Sandy plains or on the borders of hillside thickets, common. A tufted shrub, 1--1 high, rising from a strong large root.

[++][++][++] _Low shrubs, 3--10 high, of cold swamps, with slender yellowish or reddish twigs; leaves lanceolate, smooth above, glaucous beneath and covered when young with appressed silvery-silky hairs; aments (especially the fertile) with a few leafy bracts at base; capsule pedicelled, silvery-silky; stigmas bifid._

[=] _Shrubs of lowland swamps; leaves narrowly lanceolate, 2--3' long, taper-pointed, finely and evenly serrate; stipules linear or semi-cordate, deciduous; aments sessile or in fruit slightly peduncled; style very short._

9. S. sericea, Marsh. (SILKY W.) Leaves at first (princ.i.p.ally beneath) very silky, turning black in drying; aments narrowly cylindrical, the fertile densely flowered; capsule short-pedicelled, ovate-oblong, rather obtuse.--Common, but more prevalent from the region of the Great Lakes eastward.

10. S. petiolaris, Smith. Leaves only slightly silky when young, soon smooth, with less tendency to blacken in drying; fertile aments ovoid-cylindric, in fruit broad and loose from the lengthening of the pedicels; capsule rostrate from an ovate base, rather acute.--Var.

GRaCILIS, Anders., has extremely loose aments, and very long-pedicelled attenuate-rostrate capsules.--Common, but more prevalent from the Great Lakes westward. This species, like the preceding, hybridizes freely with S. cordata.

[=][=] _Alpine shrub; leaves 1--2' long, repand-crenate; stipules minute, fugacious; aments leafy-peduncled; style distinct._

11. S. argyrocarpa, Anders. Leaves tapering evenly to both ends, acute, or the earliest obovate and obtuse, at length rigid, the margin slightly revolute; petiole short; fruiting ament short (about 1' long), loosely flowered; capsule tapering, densely silky-silvery; gland of the staminate flower variously doubled.--Moist alpine ravines in a few limited localities on or near Mt. Was.h.i.+ngton, N. H.; also in Lower Canada and Lab. A bushy branched shrub, erect or depressed at base, 1--2 high, growing in wide dense patches. A hybrid with n. 13 was detected by Mr. _E. Faxon_ in Tuckerman's ravine (its leaves collected by Dr. Gray as early as 1842!), appearing like a large form of the species with the aments of S. phylicifolia.