son's Bay, the valley of the Mackenzie River within the Arctic Circle, Cook Inlet, Alaska,
and the coast ranges of British Columbia, forming in the region west of Hudson's Bay al-
most impenetrable thickets, with twisted and often inclining stems; common in all the
northern states, ranging southward to Pennsylvania and westward to Minnesota and
through the Rocky Mountain region from western Idaho and northern Montana to north-
ern North Dakota, eastern South Dakota, northeastern and central Iowa, and western
Nebraska, and southward through Colorado to northern Arizona; ascending as a low shrub
in Colorado to an altitude of 10,000.
21. Salix discolor Muehl. Glaucous Willow.
Leaves lanceolate to elliptic, gradually narrowed at the ends, remotely crenulate-serrate,
as they unfold thin, light green often tinged with red, pubescent above and coated with a
pale tomentum below, at maturity thick and firm, glabrous, conspicuously reticulate- venu-
lose, bright green above, glaucous or silvery white below, 3'-5' long, f'-l^' wide, with
a broad yellow midrib and slender arcuate primary veins; petioles slender, '-!' long; stip-
ules foliaceous, semilunar, acute, glandular-dentate, about j' long, deciduous. Flowers:
aments appearing late in winter or in very early spring, erect, terminal on short scale-
bearing branchlets coated with thick white tomentum, oblong-cylindric, about 1' long and
j' thick, the staminate soft and silky before the flowers open and densely flowered; scales
160
TREES OF NORTH AMERICA
oblong-obovate, dark reddish brown toward the apex, covered on the back with long silky
silvery white hairs; stamens 2, with elongated glabrous filaments; ovary oblong-cylindric,
narrowed above the middle, villose, with a short distinct style and broad spreading entire
stigmas; pedicel glabrous, about twice the length of the scale. Fruit cylindric, more or
less contracted above the middle, long-pointed, light brown, coated with pale pubescence.
A tree, rarely more than 25 high, with a trunk about 1 in diameter, stout ascending
Fig. 155
branches forming an open round-topped head, and stout branchlets marked by occasional
orange-colored lenticels, dark reddish purple and coated at first with pale deciduous pubes-
cence; more often shrubby, with numerous tall straggling stems. Winter-buds semiterete,
flattened and acute at the apex, about f ' long, dark reddish purple and lustrous. Bark |'
thick, light brown tinged with red, and divided by shallow fissures into thin plate-like
oblong scales. Wood light, soft, close-grained, brown streaked with red, with lighter
brown sap wood.
Distribution. Moist meadows and the banks of streams and lakes; Nova Scotia to
Manitoba, and southward to Delaware, southern Indiana and Illinois, eastern and south-
western Iowa, the Black Hills of South Dakota, and northeastern Missouri; common.
A form of Salix discolor with more densely flowered and more silvery pubescent aments
is described as var. eriocephala Schn. and a form w r ith loosely flowered aments with less
tomentose fruits with longer styles and with narrower leaves as var. prinoides Schn.
22. Salix Scouleriana Barr. Black Willow.
Salix Nuttallii Sarg.
Leaves oblong-obovate to elliptic, acute or abruptly acuminate with a short or long-
pointed apex, gradually narrowed and cuneate at the often unsymmetrical base, entire or
remotely and irregularly crenately serrate, thin and firm, dark yellow-green and lustrous
above, pale or glaucous and glabrous or pilose below, 1 J'-4' long, |'-1|' wide, with a broad
yellow pubescent midrib and slender veins forked and arcuate within the slightly thickened
and revoiute margins and connected by conspicuous reticulate veinlets; petioles slender,
puberulous, \'-\' in length; stipules foliaceous, semilunar, glandular-serrate, \'-\' long, ca-
ducous. Flowers: aments appearing before the leaves, oblong-cylindric, erect, nearly sessile
on short tomentose scale-bearing branchlets, the staminate about 1' long and rather more
than \' thick, the pistillate \\' long, about tV thick; scales oblong, narrowed at the ends,
dark-colored, covered with long white hairs, persistent under the fruit; stamens 2, with free
SALICACE^
161
glabrous filaments; ovary cylindric, short-stalked, with a distinct style and broad emar-
ginate stigmas: pedicels less than half the length of the scale, villose. Fruit oblong-ovoid,
acuminate, light reddish brown, pale pubescent, about $' long.
A tree, occasionally 30 high, with a short trunk rarely exceeding 1 in diameter, slender
pendulous branches forming a rather compact round-topped shapely head, and stout
branchlets marked by scattered yellow lenticels, coated when they first appear with pale
early deciduous pubescence, becoming bright yellow or dark orange color, and in their
second year dark red-brown and much roughened by the conspicuous leaf -scars; or more
often a shrub. Winter-buds ovoid, acute, nearly terete or slightly flattened, with narrow
lateral wing-like margins, light or dark orange color, glabrous or pilose at the base, about
Fig. 156
long. Bark thin, dark brown slightly tinged with red, and divided into broad flat ridges.
Wood light, soft, close-grained, light brown tinged with red, with thick nearly white sap-
wood.
Distribution. Cook's Inlet, coast of Alaska, and valley of the Yukon River near Daw-
son southward through western British Columbia to northern California, ranging eastward
through Washington and northwestern Oregon to northern Idaho and Montana.
From central California to San Bernardino County represented by the variety crassijulis
Andr. (S. brachystachys Benth.) with shorter and broader obovate leaves rounded at apex,
pubescent and tomentose branchlets and larger pubescent winter-buds. A tree sometimes
70 high with a trunk often 2| in diameter.
On the high Sierra Nevada eastward to the eastern ranges of the Rocky Mountains ot
Colorado and to northern New Mexico, northern Wyoming and the Black Hills of South
Dakota represented by the var. flavescens Schn. A shrub or rarely a small tree with obo-
vate rounded yellowish leaves and branchlets.
23. Salix Hookeriana Barr.
Leaves oblong to oblong-obovate, acute or abruptly acuminate, or rarely rounded and
frequently apiculate at apex, gradually narrowed and cuneate or rounded at base, coarsely
crenately serrate, especially those on vigorous shoots, or entire, when they unfold vil-
lose with pale hairs, or tomentose above and clothed below with silvery white tomentum,
at maturity tLin and firm, bright yellow-green and lustrous, nearly glabrous or tomentose
on the upper surface, pale and glaucous and tomentose or pubescent on the lower surface,
especially along the midrib and slender arcuate primary veins and conspicuous reticulate
veinlets, 2'-6' long, I'-l^' wide; petioles stout, tomentose, |' |' long. Flowers: aments
162
TREES OF NORTH AMERICA
oblong-cylindric, erect, rather lax, often more or less curved, about 1|' long, on short
tomentose scale-bearing branchlets, the staminate f thick and rather thicker than the
pistillate; scales oblong-obovate, yellow, coated with long pale hairs, the staminate rounded
above and rather shorter than the more acute scales of the pistillate ament persistent under
the fruit; stamens 2, with free elongated glabrous filaments; ovary conic, glabrous, stalked,
with a slender stalk about one third as long as the scale, gradually narrowed above, with a
slender elongated bright red style and broad spreading entire stigmas. Fruit oblong-
cylindric, narrowed above, about \' long.
Fig. 157
A tree, occasionally 30 high, with a trunk about 1 in diameter, and stout branchlets
marked by large scattered orange-colored lenticels, covered during their first season with
hoary tomentum and rather bright or dark red-brown and pubescent in then* second sum-
mer; more often shrubby, with numerous stems 4'-8' thick and 15-20 high; frequently a
low bush, with straggling almost prostrate stems. Winter-buds ovoid, acute, nearly terete,
dark red, coated with pale pubescence, about \' long. Bark nearly \' thick, light red-
brown, slightly fissured and divided into closely appressed plate-like scales. Wood light,
soft, close-grained, light brown tinged with red, with thin nearly white sapwood.
Distribution. Borders of salt marshes and ponds and sandy coast dunes; Vancouver
Island southward along the shores of Puget Sound and the Pacific Ocean to southern
Oregon.
24. Salix sitchensis Sanson.
Leaves oblong-obovate to oblanceolate, entire or minutely glandular dentate, acute or
acuminate, or rounded and short-pointed, or rounded at apex, gradually narrowed and
cuneate at base, when they unfold pubescent or tomentose on the upper surface, and coated
on the lower with lustrous white silky pubescence or tomentum persistent during the
season or sometimes deciduous from the leaves of vigorous young shoots, at maturity thin
and firm, dark green, lustrous and glabrous above, with the exception of the pubescent
midrib, 2'-5' long, f'-l^' wide, with conspicuous slender veins arcuate and united within
the margins and prominent reticulate veinlets; petioles stout, pubescent, rarely \' long;
stipules rarely produced, foliaceous, semilunar, acute or rounded at apex, glandular-
dentate, coated below with hoary tomentum, often \' long, caducous. Flowers: aments
cylindric, densely flowered, erect on short tomentose leafy branchlets, the staminate
H'-2' long and \' thick, the pistillate 2|'-3' long, and \' thick; scales yellow or tawny, the
staminate oblong-obovate, rounded at the apex, covered with long white hairs, much longer
than the more acute pubescent scales of the pistillate ament: stamen 1, with an elongated
MYRICACE^E
163
glabrous filament, or very rarely 2, with filaments united below the middle or nearly to the
apex; ovary short-stalked, ovoid, conic, acute, pubescent and gradually narrowed into
the elongated style, with entire or slightly emarginate short stigmas. Fruit ovoid, nar-
rowed above, light red-brown, pubescent about \' long.
Fig. 158
A much-branched tree, occasionally 25-30 high, with a short contorted often inclining
trunk sometimes 1 in diameter, and slender brittle branchlets coated at first with hoary
tomentum, pubescent and tomentose and dark red-brown or orange color during then- first
winter, becoming darker, pubescent or glabrous, and sometimes covered with a glaucous
bloom in their second season; more often shrubby and 6-15 tall. Winter-buds acute,
nearly terete, light red-brown, pubescent or puberulous, about \' long. Bark about '
thick and broken into irregular closely appressed dark brown scales tinged with red. Wood
light, soft, close-grained, pale red, with thick nearly white sapwood.
Distribution. Banks of streams and in low moist ground; Cook Inlet and Kadiak Island,
Alaska, southward in the neighborhood of the coast to Santa Barbara, California; on the
Marble Creek of the Kaweah River at 6900 altitude (f. Ralphiana Jeps.)
VI. MYRICACEJE.
Aromatic resinous trees and shrubs, with watery juice, terete branches, and small scaly
buds. Leaves alternate, re volute in the bud, serrate, resinous-punctate, persistent in our
species, in falling leaving elevated semiorbicular leaf -scars showing the ends of three nearly
equidistant fibro- vascular bundles. Flowers unisexual, dioecious or monoecious, usually
subtended by minute bractlets, in the axils of the deciduous scales of unisexual or androgy-
nous simple oblong aments from buds in the axils of the leaves of the year, opening in early
spring, the staminate below the pistillate in androgynous aments; staminate, perianth 0;
stamens 4 or many, inserted on the thickened base of the scales of the ament; filaments
slender, united at the base into a short stipe; anthers ovoid, erect, 2-celled, introrse, open-
ing longitudinally; ovary rudimentary or 0; pistillate flowers single or in pairs; ovary ses-
sile, 1-celled; styles short, divided into 2 elongated filiform stigmas stigmatic on the inner
face; ovule solitary, erect from the base of the cell, orthotropous, the micropyle superior.
Fruit a globose or ovoid dry drupe usually covered with waxy exudations; nut hard, thick-
walled. Seed erect, with a thin coat, without albumen; embryo straight; cotyledons plano-
convex, fleshy; radicle short, superior, turned away from the minute basal hilum.
The family consists of the genus Myrica L., of about thirty or forty species of small
164 TREES OF NORTH AMERICA
trees and shrubs, widely distributed through the temperate and warmer parts of both
hemispheres. Of the seven North American species three are trees. Wax is obtained
from the exudations of the fruit of several species. The bark is astringent, and sometimes
used in medicine, in tanning, and as an aniline dye. Myrica rubra Sieb and Zacc., of
southern Japan and China, is cultivated for its succulent aromatic red fruit.
The generic name is probably from the ancient name of some shrub, possibly the Tam-
arisk.
CONSPECTUS OF THE NORTH AMERICAN SPECIES.
Flowers dioecious.
Leaves oblanceolate, usually acute or rarely rounded at apex, mostly coarsely serrate
above the middle, yellow-green, coated below with conspicuous orange-colored
glands. 1. M. cerifera (A, C).
Leaves usually broadly oblong-obovate, rounded or rarely acute at apex, entire, dark
green and lustrous. 2. M. inodora (C).
Flowers monoecious; leaves oblanceolate or oblong-lanceolate, sharply serrate, dark green
and lustrous. 3. M. califomica (G).
1. Myrica cerifera L. Wax Myrtle.
Leaves oblanceolate or rarely oblong-lanceolate, acute or rarely gradually narrowed
and rounded at apex, cuneate at base, decurrent on short stout petioles, coarsely serrate
above the middle or entire, yellow-green, covered above by minute dark glands and below
Fig. 159
by bright orange-colored glands, l|'-4' long and \'-\' wide, with a slender pale midrib often
puberulous below, and few obscure arcuate veins, fragrant with a balsamic resinous odor;
gradually deciduous at the end of their first year. Flowers in small oblong aments. with
ovate acute ciliate scales, those of the staminate plant |'-f long, about twice as long as
those of the pistillate plant; stamens few, with oblong slightly obcordate anthers at first
tinged with red, becoming yellow; ovary gradually narrowed into 2 slender spreading stig-
mas longer than its scale. Fruit in short spikes, ripening in September and October and
persistent on the branches during the winter, irregularly deciduous in the spring and early
summer, globose, about \' in diameter, slightly papillose, light green, coated with thick
pale blue wax; seed pale, minute.
A tree, occasionally 40 high, with a tall trunk 8'-10' in diameter, slender upright or
slightly spreading branches forming a narrow round-topped head, and slender branchlets
MYRICACE^E
165
marked by small pale lenticels, coated at first with loose rufous tomentum and caducous
orange-colored glands, bright red-brown or dark brown tinged with gray, usually lustrous
and nearly glabrous during their first winter, finally becoming dark brown; generally
smaller, frequently shrubby. Winter-buds oblong, acute, YV~i' l n g> with numerous
ovate acute imbricated scales, the inner scales becoming nearly %' long, and often persistent
until the young branch has completed its growth. Bark of the trunk |' thick, compact,
smooth, light gray. Wood light, soft and brittle, dark brown, with thin lighter-colored
sap wood.
Distribution. In the neighborhood of the coast; Cape May, New Jersey, southern
Delaware and Maryland to the keys of southern Florida, and through the Gulf states to
the shores of Aranzas Pass, San Patricio County, Texas, ranging inland to the neighbor-
hood of Natchez, Jackson County, Mississippi, the valley of the Red River (Natchitoches,
Louisiana and Fulton, Arkansas), and to Cherokee County, Texas, and northward to the
valley of the Washita River, Arkansas; on the Bermuda and Bahama Islands and on several
of the Antilles; most abundant and of its largest size on the south Atlantic and Gulf coasts
in sandy swamps and pond holes; the most common woody plant and forming great thickets
on the Everglades east of Lake Okeechobee, Florida; in the sandy soil of Pine-barrens and
on dry arid hills of the interior, often only a few inches in height, var. pumila Michx.
2. Myrica inodora W. Bartr. Wax Myrtle.
Leaves broadly oblong-obovate or rarely ovate, rounded or sometimes pointed and occa-
sionally apiculate at apex, narrowed at base, decurrent on short stout petioles, entire or
Fig. 160
rarely obscurely toothed toward the apex, thick and coriaceous, glandular-punctate, dark
green and very lustrous above, bright green below, 2'-4' long, f '-1|' wide, with a broad con-
spicuously glandular midrib slightly pubescent on the lower side, and few remote slender
obscure primary veins forked and arcuate near the much-thickened and revolute margins;
gradually deciduous from May until midsummer. Flowers in aments '-!' long, with
ovate acute glandular scales; stamens numerous, with oblong slightly emarginate yellow
anthers; pistillate flowers usually in pairs, with an ovate glabrous ovary and slender bright
red styles. Fruit produced sparingly in elongated spikes, oblong, -^ long, papillose,
black, and covered with a thin coat of white wax: seed oblong-oval, acute at apex, rounded
at base, f ' long, bright orange-brown, with a pale yellow hilum.
Usually a shrub, with numerous slender stems, occasionally arborescent and 18-20
high, with a straight trunk 6-8 tall and 2'-3' in diameter, and stout branchlets roughened
166
TREES OF NORTH AMERICA
by small scattered lenticels, coated at first with dense pale tomentum, soon becoming
bright red-brown, scurfy, and glabrous or pubescent. Winter-buds ovoid, acute, nearly
f ' long, with numerous loosely imbricated lanceolate acute red-brown scurfy-pubescent
scales. Bark thin, smooth, nearly white.
Distribution. Deep swamps, Round Lake, Jackson County, and Appalachicola, and
Saint Andrews Bay, Florida; near Mobile and Stockton, Alabama; near Poplarville, Pearl
County, Mississippi, and Bogalusa, Washington Parish, Louisiana.
3. Myrica californica Cham. Wax Myrtle.
Leaves oblanceolate to oblong-lanceolate, acute at apex, remotely serrate except at the
gradually narrowed base with small incurved teeth, decurrent on a short stout petiole,
thin and firm, dark green and lustrous above, yellow-green, glabrous or puberulous and
Fig. 161
marked by minute black glandular dots below, 2'-4' long, \'-\' wide, with a narrow yellow
midrib and numerous obscure primary veins arcuate near the thickened and revolute
margins, slightly fragrant, gradually deciduous after the end of their first year. Flowers
subtended by conspicuous bractlets, those of the two sexes on the same plant; staminate
in oblong simple aments often 1' long, pistillate in shorter aments in the axils of upper
leaves, androgynous aments occurring between the two with staminate flowers at their base
and pistillate flowers above, or with staminate flowers also mixed with the pistillate at then-
apex; scales of the aments ovate, acute, coated with pale tomentum; stamens numerous,
with oblong slightly emarginate dark red-purple anthers soon becoming yellow; ovary ovoid,
with bright red exserted styles. Fruit in short crowded spikes ripening in the early au-
tumn and usually falling during the winter, globose, papillose, dark purple, covered with
a thin coat of grayish white wax; seed pale reddish brown, minute.
A tree, occasionally 40 high, with a trunk 14'-15' in diameter, short slender branches
forming a narrow compact round-topped head, and stout branchlets coated at first with
loose tomentum, dark green or light or dark red-brown, glabrous or pubescent during their
first season, becoming in their second year much roughened by the elevated leaf -scars, darker
and ultimately ashy gray; usually smaller at the north and toward the northern and south-
ern limits of its range reduced to a low shrub often only 3-4 tall. Winter-buds ovoid,
acute, about \' thick, with loosely imbricated ovate acute dark red-brown tomentose scales
nearly \' long when fully grown and long-persistent on the branch. Bark smooth, compact,
xV~i' thick, dark gray or light brown on the surface and dark red-brown internally. Wood
heavy, very hard and strong, brittle, close-grained, light rose color, with thick lighter
colored sapwood.
LEITNEBIACE^E U)7
Distribution. Ocean sand-dunes and moist hillsides in the vicinity of the coast from the
shores of Puget Sound to the neighborhood of Santa Monica, Los Angeles County, Cali-
fornia; of its largest size on the shores of the Bay of San Francisco.
Occasionally used in California as a garden plant.
VH. LEITNERIACE^:.
A tree or shrub, with pale slightly fissured bark, scaly buds, stout terete pithy branchlets
marked by pale conspicuous nearly circular lenticels and by elevated crescent-shaped
angled or obscurely 3-lobed leaf-scars, very light soft wood, and thick fleshy stoloniferous
yellow roots. Leaves involute in the bud, lanceolate to elliptic-lanceolate, acuminate or
acute and short-pointed at apex, gradually narrowed at base, entire, with slightly revolute
undulate margins, penniveined with remote primary veins arcuate and united near the
margins, and conspicuous reticulate veinlets, petiolate, at first coated on the lower surface
and on the petioles with thick pale tomentum and puberulous on the upper surface, thick
and firm at maturity, bright green and lustrous above, pale and villose-pubescent below,
deciduous. Flowers in unisexual aments, with ovate acute concave tomentose scales, the
male and female on different plants, opening in early spring from buds formed the previous
autumn and covered with acute chestnut-brown hairy scales; the staminate clustered near
the end of the branches, their scales bearing on the thickened stipe a ring of 3-12 stamens,
with slender incurved filaments and oblong light yellow introrse 2-celled anthers opening
longitudinally; perianth 0; pistillate aments scattered, shorter and more slender than the
staminate, their scales bearing in their axils a short-stalked pistil surrounded by a rudi-
mentary perianth of small gland-fringed scales, the 2 larger lateral, the others next the axis
of the inflorescence; ovary superior, pubescent, 1-celled, with an elongated flattened style
inserted obliquely, curving inward above the middle in anthesis, grooved and stigmatic on
the inner face; ovule solitary, attached laterally, ascending, semianatropous; micropyle
directed upward. Fruit an oblong compressed dry drupe thick and rounded on the ventral,
narrowed on the dorsal edge, rounded at base, thin and pointed at apex, chestnut-brown,
rugose, with a thick dry exocarp closely investing the thin-walled light brown crustaceous
rugose nutlet. Seed flattened, rounded at the ends, light brown, marked on the thick
edge with the oblong nearly black hilum; embryo erect, surrounded by thin fleshy albu-
men; cotyledons oblong, flattened; radicle superior, conical, short, and fleshy.
The family consists of a single genus, Leitneria Chapm., with one species of the south-
ern United States, named for a German naturalist killed in Florida during the Seminole
War.
1. Leitneria floridana Chapm. Cork Wood.
Leaves 4'^6' long, 1|'-2|' wide, with petioles l'-2' in length. Flowers opening at the
end of February or early in March; staminate aments I'-lj' long, \' thick, and twice as
long as the pistillate. Fruit solitary or in clusters of 2-4, ripening when the leaves are
about half grown, f long, \' wide.
A shrub or small tree, occasionally 20 high, with a slender straight trunk 4'-5' in diame-
ter above the swollen gradually tapering base, spreading branches forming a loose open
head, and branchlets at first light reddish brown and thickly coated with gradually decidu-
ous hairs, becoming in their first winter glabrous or puberulous, especially toward the ends,
and dark red-brown. Winter-buds: terminal broad, conic, \ r long, covered by 10 or 12
oblong nearly triangular closely imbricated scales coated with pale tomentum and long-
persistent at the base of the branch; lateral scattered, ovoid, flattened. Bark about T V
thick, dark gray faintly tinged with brown, divided by shallow fissures into narrow rounded
ridges. Wood soft, exceedingly light, close-grained, the layers of annual growth hardty
distinguishable, pale yellow, without trace of heartwood; occasionally used for the floats of
fishing-nets.
Distribution. Borders of swamps of the lower Altamaha River, Georgia (C. L. Boyntori)',