Title: American forestry
Identifier: americanforestry231917amer (find matches)
Year: 1910-1923 (1910s)
Authors: American Forestry Association
Subjects: Forests and forestry
Publisher: Washington, D. C. : American Forestry Association
Contributing Library: The LuEsther T Mertz Library, the New York Botanical Garden
Digitizing Sponsor: The LuEsther T Mertz Library, the New York Botanical Garden

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AMERICAN FORESTRY VOL. XXIII JANUARY 1917 NO. 277 ■ ^iilliiiii THE WILLOWS IDENTIFICATION AND CHARACTERISTICS BY SAMUEL B. DETWILER iM:?TANICAL UAWn^H. THE willow is an everyday tree, so humble that some one has called it "the Cinderella of trees." It has long been considered the sjTnbol of unrequited love, and, from the time when the Psalmist re- corded that the He- brews hun^'their harps upon the willows and wept by the rivers of Babylon, poets have referred to this tree as the "sad willow," al- though it is alluded to earlier in the Bible as a "goodly tree," to be used as an emblem of rejoicing. Certainly there is nothing solemn in the shrill piping of the willow whistles that gladdens the heart of the small boy in spring time. The willows are very difficult to distinguish botanically because the large number of species which are clearl)' separate and distinct have numerous varieties which grade into one another. There are about 175 different willows in the world, of which approximately 100 are found in North America. In general, the willows are native of the colder temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere, but several are found in warm climates. The willows grow to the very limits of perpetual snow in
Text Appearing After Image:
From Pennsylvania Trees. THE BLACK WILLOW 4. Pis I. A stamenate flowering branch. 2. Stamenate flower. 3. A pistillate flowering branch. 4. tillate flower. S. A fruiting branch. 6. A seed with hairs. 7. A winter twig. 8. Section of winter twig with bud and leaf scar. 9. A leafy branch the mountains and no other woody plant except the birch grows so far north in the Arctic regions. A few kinds of willows grow to be large-sized trees, 50 to 100 feet high and 2 or 3 feet m diameter, but the majority are shrubs which occasionally reach a size large enough to be termed trees. Some of the species that ha\'e their home above timber line on the mountains, near perpetual snow, lie prostrate in mats only an inch or two higher than the ground. Nature has provided many plants to clothe the waste places of the earth, and the willow is one of these. Some kinds will grow on dry soils, but mostly they are found along streams, in swamps or on moist soils. They spring up abundantly and, by rapid growth, quickly take possession of the territory suited to them. The Children of Israel were promised to be multi- jjlicd like "willows by the water courses." The willows belong to the lowest order of deciduous broad- leaved trees, and impressions of leaves in rocks .show that willows flourished when the earth was young. It is probable that they were one of the 3

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