Economic Uses.—This species and the white willow are introduced from Europe and extensively grown for the production of charcoal to use in powder making.
5. Salix díscolor Muhlenberg. Pussy Willow. Swamp Willow. Glaucous Willow. [Plate 14.] Shrub or small tree, 2-4 or occasionally 7-5 m. (7-15 or 25 feet) high; bark thin, usually smooth, reddish brown; twigs stoutish, reddish-purple to dark brown, often pubescent (see the variety); buds large, 5-10 mm. (1/5-2/5 inch) long, colored as the twigs; stipules large, mostly roundish, entire or toothed; leaves short-lanceolate to elliptic or elliptic-oblanceolate, acute or short-acuminate at the apex, rounded or acute at the base, 5-10 cm. (2-4 inches) long, 2-3.5 cm. (4/5-11/2 inches) wide, nearly entire to coarsely wavy-toothed on the margins, dark shining green above, densely glaucous and occasionally somewhat pubescent beneath, especially on midrib and primaries; flowers appear in late March or in April before the leaves; catkins sessile, on old wood, stout, dense, the staminate very beautiful (pussies), without leaf-bracts at base, 2-5 cm. (1-2 inches) long, the pistillate becoming 3-8 cm. (11/2-3 inches) long in fruit; scales elliptic-oblanceolate, densely clothed with long shining hairs; capsules conic-rostrate, 7-10 or 12 mm. (1/4-1/2 inch) long, densely gray-woolly; pedicels 1.5-3 mm. (1/16-1/8 inch) long.
Distribution.—Nova Scotia south to Delaware and west to the eastern edge of the Great Plains area. Fairly well distributed over the entire State of Indiana. Specimens have been seen from the following counties: Allen (Deam); Dearborn (Deam); Decatur (Deam); Elkhart (Deam); Fulton (Deam); Gibson (Schneck); Hancock (Mrs. Chas. C. Deam); Henry (Deam); Jackson (Deam); Jay (Deam); Jefferson (Deam); Jennings (Deam); Knox (Deam); Lake (Deam); Marion (Mrs. Chas. C. Deam); Marshall (Deam); Newton (Deam); Porter (Deam); Randolph (Deam); Ripley (Deam); Shelby (Mrs. Chas. C. Deam); Sullivan (Deam); Tippecanoe (Deam); Wabash (Deam); Warren (Deam); Wayne (Deam); Wells (Deam); White (Deam).
5a. Salix discolor variety eriòcéphala (Michaux) Andersson. Differs from the species chiefly in rather densely pubescent twigs and buds; thicker and more lanceolate leaves, usually more or less pubescent beneath; and the sometimes more densely pubescent catkins.
SALIX DISCOLOR Muhlenberg. Pussy Willow. (× 1/2.)
Distribution.—Range of the species but less common. Specimens have been seen from the following Indiana counties: Cass (Deam); Decatur (Deam); Fulton (Deam); Gibson (Schneck); Jackson (Deam); Jay (Deam); Knox (Deam); Laporte (Deam); Pulaski (Deam); Sullivan (Deam); Warren (Deam); Wayne (Deam).